


Chains of Waves

by unnoun



Series: The Sea-change of fate [4]
Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Awkwardness, Canon-Typical Violence, Canonical Child Abuse, F/F, F/M, Gen, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Memory Alteration, Memory Magic, Multi, POV Multiple, Suggestive Themes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-06
Updated: 2018-06-05
Packaged: 2018-07-26 22:33:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 19,286
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7592788
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unnoun/pseuds/unnoun
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sora, Goofy, Kairi and Donald continue their search for the King and Riku, but end up captivated by memories of a lost childhood friend. Will they persevere, or be entrapped by the wiles of a Witch?</p><p>(Alternatively: is it cheating if you fall in love with yourself?)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Floor One: To find and claim anew

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So writing the card battle system was literally hell so I'm not doing it, sorry!
> 
> As always, I'm using bits and pieces from the games (both Re:Chain and GBA) and the manga and novels! With credit to Nomura, Osaka Team, Shiro Amano, Tomoco Kanemaki, Yen Press and others!

Kairi and Sora woke up at the same time, their arms and legs tangled in each other as they startled awake, their foreheads thudding as they bumped into each other.

 

Both winced then got up slowly, as Donald and Goofy snored. They walked side by side, tip toeing over to the crossroads on the hill. They looked up at the moon overhead.

 

"...Will we really be able to find Riku and King Mickey?" they both said softly before looking at each other in surprise, not realizing they were speaking aloud.

 

The paths here kept going endlessly. They'd stopped for the night when they'd gotten here, to where these paths intersected, because of how hard it was to tell which one might lead to where they wanted to go.

 

Not that they knew that either.

 

"Ahead lies something you need."

 

They turned at once and saw someone in a black coat behind them. About Kairi's height.

 

"But to claim it," the cloaked figure said, in a soft and feminine voice, "You must lose something dear."

 

Upon saying this, the girl vanished in an instant.

 

* * *

 

 

"It is done?" asked the hooded man.

 

"...Yes," said the girl as she sat down at her desk.

 

The plans were proceeding as intended. The Heroes of light would soon be here.

 

She ignored the man as he vanished in a flurry of flowers, and set about drawing in her sketchbook.

 

"Not that I'll get to meet them..." she said bitterly.

 

* * *

 

 

Goofy yawned and blinked as he sat up, the kids staring down at him and Donald. "What's goin' on?" he asked as the children continued to babble rapidly, waving their arms in a panic.

 

Kairi glared (it was cute, but not as cute as Maxie at that age) and Goofy smiled gently.

 

"They had a bad dream," Donald said dismissively, turning back over.

 

"No! They said there's something on the path ahead!" Kairi declared.

 

"Who?" Jiminy asked, as he hopped out of the grass, a miniature roll of toilet paper in his hand.

 

"What sort of feller was he?" Goofy asked.

 

Kairi shook her head. "It was a girl's voice, but she was wearing a black coat and a hood like that guy we saw in Hollow Bastion. Same style."

 

"Maybe it was a boy, like Sora before his voice started cracking," Donald suggested.

 

Sora glared but didn't rise to the bait. Donald rolled his eyes.

 

"Well then, where'd she go?" Donald asked impatiently.

 

They looked around, and noticed that instead of the intersection of roads they had been sleeping next to, there was now only a single path.

 

Goofy and Donald blinked. "Gawrsh..."

 

"...It's probably a trap," Sora mumbled, his voice hoarse.

 

"Do we have any other options?" Kairi asked.

 

"Let's go!" Donald announced suddenly, immediately setting off, breaking into a run.

 

Sora and Kairi glanced at each other then set off after him, Jiminy clinging to Goofy as he made up the rear of the impromptu race.

 

* * *

 

 

They eventually had to stop when the path brought them to a massive castle, bigger than any that any of them had ever seen. The path continued right up to the castle's doors, as the ground alongside that path vanished. Donald stuck his head over the edge of the road, and found that there was no ground underneath the pathway either.

 

The sky was now black and grey, not a star to be seen.

 

Kairi had a strange feeling as she looked at the green spires sticking out in all directions.

 

She bit her lip and walked towards the front doors and pushed them open, the others trailing behind her.

 

"Looks like nobody's home," Donald commented as they stepped inside the hallway.

 

"You sure we should just barge in like this?" Goofy asked, trying to step carefully so as not to track dirt on the bright white marble floors.

 

Donald shrugged. "We have to if we're gonna find the king..." he said with finality, as the others stared at him in shock for voicing aloud what they'd only briefly considered.

 

Goofy started looking around at all the walls. "The king?! King Mickey's here?"

 

Donald blinked, as if realizing what he'd insinuated before nodding. "Something just told me he'd be here, okay?"

 

Goofy stared. "Really? 'Cause now that ya mention it, I was kinda thinkin' the same thing."

 

"Are you serious?" Sora said,  "So was I! One look at this castle, and I just knew: They're here." His voice came out at least an octave deeper. The others all stared at him, their heads tilted to the side.

 

"...What?" he said defensively.

 

Goofy broke the silence first. "A-hyuck! Guess great minds think alike."

 

Kairi blinked as she came back to the conversation. "But, I thought Riku would be here too."

 

Jiminy nodded. "Me too! It can't just be a coincidence."

 

They all frowned at this. "Gawrsh, maybe it's contagious," Goofy suggested.

 

Donald shook his head. "No, no. Something's screwy. We gotta go take a look."

 

"All right," Sora said, as he continued into the hall.

 

"Wak! Where are you going!?" Donald shouted.

 

Sora looked back with a grin. "To take a look. Are ya scared?"

 

Donald scowled. "Aw, don't be ridiculous! Come on, let's go, Goofy!"

 

"Hey, fellas, shouldn't we shut the door behind us before we go?" Goofy asked as the others headed towards the door at the end of the hall.

 

"Sora!"

 

They turned to see Goofy pointing at the door as it slid closed, as a man in a black coat and a hood stood in front of it.

 

"Wak! Heartless!" Donald cried, before pulling out his staff. "Let's see ya handle my magic! THUNDAZA!" Donald lifted his staff into the air, only for nothing to happen.

 

Everyone stared at Donald. "Thundaga!" he tried again. "Come on! Blizzaza! Fira!?"

 

He shook his wand as if it would start. "Why isn't it working?"

 

The man in the black coat stared at them. "For your information, I am not a Heartless. Haven't you figured it out? The moment you set foot in this castle, you stared losing your memory. You've forgotten every spell and ability you knew."

 

Kairi gasped. "Does that mean if we try a dodge roll now it'll just be a normal somersault?!"

 

The man stared at her. "...I don't really care. In this place to find is to lose, and to lose is to find. That is the way of things in Castle Oblivion."

 

Goofy started singing lowly under his breath. "A, B, C, E, F, G;"

 

"...Uh, Goofy?"

 

"Excuse me, I'm talking!" the man said, suddenly impatient.

 

"Castle Oblivion?" Kairi asked politely.

 

The man nodded. "Yes. Here you will meet people you know. People you miss."

 

"You mean Riku!?" Sora shouted. "Riku's here!?"

 

"And the king?!" added Donald.

 

The man looked at him. "Do you want to find them?"

 

"Of course!" Kairi yelled.

 

"If that's what you want..." Suddenly the man walked through them- straight through their bodies.

 

Kairi shivered at the sensation. Something felt distinctly wrong about it.

 

"I just touched your memories. And I made this. To reunite with those you hold dear." He tossed something to Sora. It was a card shaped like a crown, illustrated with a picture of a small city on the front.

 

"A card?" Kairi asked.

 

"A promise, for the reunion you seek. Hold the card aloft and the door will open, a new world beyond it. Let the cards be your guide."

 

"...Guide?"

 

"Proceed. To lose and to claim anew, or to claim anew only to lose." With that said, the man disappeared.

 

Sora nodded. "C'mon guys, let's go!"

 

Holding the card in his hand, the door shone bright and the quartet walked through.

 

* * *

 

The girl in black drew quietly, sketching a face not unlike her own, hair scarlet instead of gold. As she drew, suddenly her crayon fell out of her hand.

 

She blinked. She had removed her glove when she had started drawing, and so when she saw her hand, the skin pale as the walls around her, she noticed her fingers were almost completely see-through. Like she wasn't even there at all.

 

She stared, and willed herself to remain solid and tangible, carefully gripping the crayon in her hand, her fingers tightening, her wrist shaking with the effort and the strain.

 

 _No,_ she thought.  _I won't fade away._

 

She continued to draw, and as she captured the memories to paper and wax, she felt her head starting to pound and ache and hurt, as the world around her blurred and spun and faded.

 

She gritted her teeth, forcing herself to stay awake, and took the link of memory she was working on and pulled it into herself. Just for safety, she reassured herself. Certainly not to steal the past of another where she had none of her own, right?

 

* * *

 

 

"This is..."

 

"Traverse Town!"

 

They stepped into Traverse Town's first district. Cobblestone roads, buildings made of wood and stone, and warm orange streetlamps.

 

Kairi frowned. "Where are Aerith and Leon?"

 

"Didn't they all go back to Hollow Bastion?"

 

"Oh yeah..." Kairi rubbed the back of her head sheepishly.

 

"Besides, we're still in Castle Oblivion, aren't we?" Goofy pointed out, glancing at the still open door behind them, and the white hallway beyond.

 

"Precisely," said a low voice behind Kairi. "It isn't reality that you see. This town is an illusion conceived by your memories ingrained in that card."

 

Kairi turned and summoned Destiny's Embrace, the man in the black coat stepping back from her. "What do you mean about our memories?!" she demanded.

 

"I'll leave that to your imagination. In this castle, you can only move forward using the cards to open the doors. And you may stumble upon memories that were hidden or people who are dear to you..."

 

The man vanished once more, petals drifting in his wake and lightly dusting the ground.

 

Goofy's stomach growled as a warm aroma wafted through the air.

 

"Would you take this seriously!" Donald snapped.

 

"Sorry," Goofy said "It's just that somethin' smells really good!"

 

Kairi nodded. "We haven't eaten anything decent for a while."

 

They looked and saw a sign on the side of the square marked "French Cafe" with a bunch of tables and chairs in open air under an awning.

 

"How can you be so easy going?" Donald yelled.

 

Sora shrugged. "Well, we don't know what to expect. And they say 'an army marches on its stomach'."

 

Kairi nodded as she pulled out one of the chairs. "I've always wanted to try this place out."

 

"Your curiosity could put us in danger!" Jiminy yelled while jumping on the table.

 

Donald sighed and pulled out a menu, as Jiminy gave up. "I'm used to being ignored. I'm just a little old conscience."

 

The candles went out, leaving them in the dark.

 

"What's going on!?" Jiminy cried.

 

Sora grinned "Maybe the waiters are gonna come out and sing a surprise 'Happy Birthday' for us. Heh," he suggested.

 

"That's not funny, Sora!" Jiminy shouted as he hid behind Kairi as a bunch of Shadows appeared.

 

Sora blocked one with his keyblade but scowled at how awkward the movement was. His muscles weren't responding the way he wanted them to, the way he would have thought would be habit.

 

Donald held his staff over head "SAND...wich?!" he cried as the Heartless dogpiled him. "Wak! I forgot that I forgot my magic!"

 

Goofy swung at one of the Heartless around Donald, and Kairi awkwardly swung her weapon overhead into one of the enemies, causing the creatures to scatter around the duck.

 

"Fire!" Donald finally cried once he was free, and a tiny fireball left his wand.

 

"We've lost a lot of our power," Kairi commented.

 

"We must've gone back to where we started!" Goofy said.

 

"Right. When we all met," Sora said.

 

Donald frowned. "But Kairi wasn't there!"

 

Kairi put her hands on her hips. "Yes I was! The whole time." She put her arms at the back of her head and leaned back at the same time as Sora did the same. Donald shuddered involuntarily. The similarities in their mannerisms were uncanny.

 

"Woof! Woof!"

 

"Huh- OOF!"

 

Kairi was knocked to the ground by an orange dog in a green collar, his paws on her midriff, licking all over her face.

 

"Pluto!?" Sora said.

 

"What's Pluto doing here?" Donald asked.

 

Goofy frowned. "We had Pluto with us when we came to Traverse Town, didn't we?"

 

Sora frowned as well, "But we were chasing Pluto when we got here, weren't we?"

 

Kairi giggled as he continued to lick her face. "Get him off of me!"

 

"I don't think this is really Traverse Town anyway," Jiminy noted. "Just an illusion made in Castle Oblivion."

 

Sora grabbed his head . "Aaghh! Who cares about all that? It's too confusing! I don't know where we are, but let's just keep moving forward defeating Heartless! We'll get somewhere!"

 

More Heartless appeared, and were cut down by a swipe from a sword and an explosion. "Think like that, and you're as good as Heartless fodder."

 

They all gaped at the man in the leather jacket as he strolled towards them, and Pluto finally left Kairi and ran towards the man.

 

"LEON!?" they all cried.

 

Leon blinked but still snapped his fingers and whistled and pointed as Pluto bound up to him. The dog sat immediately and started wagging his tail. "How do you know my name? I've never seen any of you before in my life."

 

Kairi sat up. "What? But. We all fought the Heartless together!"

 

"Yeah, quit playing Leon!" said Sora.

 

"Look,I don't know what you're talking about. I don't even know your names," Leon said.

 

Goofy looked like he was going to cry. "You don't?" he asked.

 

Leon shook his head. "Sorry."

 

Sora pouted. "I can't believe it. How can you have forgotten about us?"  

 

"Hey, I feel for you. But you've got the wrong guy. Happens all the time. Don't take it so personally, Sora," Leon said with a shrug.

 

Kairi gasped. "You do know his name!" Kairi pointed her finger at him accusingly.

 

Leon froze where he stood, and the color drained from his face. "Now, now hold on! Why do I know your name? I've never met you or Kairi before-"

 

"You think Leon's just kidding around?" Goofy whispered loudly.

 

"If he is it's not funny! Sora's really upset," Donald said.

 

Leon glared. "Who's kidding around, Goofy? You and Donald are the ones who---"

 

"Hey!" Donald interrupted.

 

Leon stood stock still, his face shadowed by his bangs as he put his hand to his head. "I don't get it... Something's wrong with my memory. What's happening here?"

 

"I dunno, Leon. Maybe Aerith was onto something after all."

 

Yuffie walked over from the alleyway. "She said she sensed some uncanny kind of power. And asked us to look into it. Well, this is as uncanny as it gets. Maybe you should take Sora and the others to see Aerith."

 

Sora grinned. "Yuffie! You know my name!"

 

Yuffie grinned back. "Yep! Looks like you know mine, too."

 

Leon glanced at the ninja. "You know him?"

 

Yuffie shook her head, her short black hair bouncing as she did so. "Nope! Total stranger. But I definitely know his name. Strange, yes, but convenient! We can skip the introductions."

 

Leon put his hand back to his face, rubbing his forehead as if he was in pain. "How is it that you can accept this situation so easily? I don't get you..."

 

Yuffie seemed not to hear him. "Well, I'm gonna run ahead and fill Aerith in. Leon, you can give them the grand tour!" With that said, she gave Leon a last teasing wave before springing into the air and dashing across the rooftops.

 

Leon stared after her before sighing and sticking his gunblade in a loop made by a pair of his belts. "I guess it's no use dwelling on it. Come on, follow me." He walked briskly further into the First District as the others followed him.

 

"We're going to the hotel in the Second District, right?" Kairi asked.

 

"You even know  _that_?"

 

"Not really, it was just a guess." Kairi raised her hands defensively, taking a step back from the swordsman. She'd been with Sora when he'd fought Leon and didn't want to fight him herself. Her body bruised more easily than his.

 

Sora suddenly grinned. "Oh! I know! Hey, Leon!"

 

"What?"

 

"Maybe you'll remember if we fight!"

 

Leon stopped midstep and looked at Sora skeptically. "You want to fight me?"

 

"You guys sit this out," Sora told the others as he summoned his keyblade. "The first time I saw Leon, I fought him on my own."

 

"Oh yeah! _Ahyuck!_ 'Cos you hadn't met us yet!"

 

Kairi joined the others as they moved against one of the walls. Kairi sat on the ledge against the postcard box, and Pluto trotted over and put his head in her lap, as she gently petted behind his ears. "So are you the real Pluto, or...?" she asked gently before trailing off.

 

Leon looked at Sora's stance doubtfully. "Are you sure about this? I don't think this will be much of a fight." He drew his gunblade again slowly.

 

Sora nodded with a grin.

 

"All right. Have it your way."

 

Sora jumped and swung as hard as he could, but Leon spun his weapon in a circle and deflected the blow effortlessly.

 

Sora landed a step back and lunged forward again, but this time as the weapons collided Leon's gunblade shook and exploded with force, knocking Sora onto his rear and the keyblade out of his hand.

 

Kairi winced. Sora did even worse than the first time when he'd passed out.

 

"Don't be so reckless. You get the picture by now, don't you?" Leon put away the gunblade and reached out with his hand to help Sora up.

 

"You guys really don't know how to fight," Leon stated.

 

"We just forgot." Kairi pouted.

 

"Forgot? How do you forget something like that?" The quartet considered the question but couldn't come up with an answer. They only managed to cock their heads to the side.

 

Leon shrugged. "Let's go see Aerith. We'll talk more there." With that Leon turned and kept walking, before stopping. "Oh. Here, I found this lying around. You take it." He handed Kairi a blue card with the face of a lion on the front.

 

* * *

 

 

They arrived in the same room in the Second District hotel where Leon and Yuffie had first told Sora about the Heartless.

 

Yuffie was sitting on the bed, idly kicking her legs. Aerith sat at the table with a quiet smile on her face. "Aerith, tell me you haven't forgotten us too," Kairi asked.

 

"I don't know whether to say 'Nice to meet you' or 'Good to see you again.' I don't think I know you, but I still feel like you belong here," said Aerith. "My heart says we've met before... but I don't remember you, Kairi."

 

Yuffie nodded. "Yeah, exactly! Like, we've never met, but it still doesn't feel weird that I know your name."

 

"But I'm telling you, we HAVE met," Sora insisted. "We took on the Heartless together. We were a team!"

 

Leon crossed his arms in front of him as he leaned against the wall. "It feels like you're right," he admitted. "But I can't remember."

 

"Then I guess you won't remember what you told me," Sora said. "In Hollow Bastion, when I sealed the Keyhole: 'We may never meet again...'"

 

"'...But we'll never forget each other,'" Leon finished reluctantly.

 

Kairi smiled. "See! You do remember!"

 

Yuffie gasped. "They're right, Leon! I remember you saying that too."

 

Leon frowned and held his head in his hands. Maybe she was imagining it, but he looked... wait, was that _smoke_ coming out of his head? "I guess we can't write it off as a coincidence..." Leon muttered.

 

Aerith stepped up to Kairi looked her in the eyes before doing the same to Sora.

 

"We don't know any of you," she said. "But your hearts are full of memories of all of us together. Those memories must resonate in our hearts too. Maybe they tell us things we couldn't otherwise know."

 

"So you're saying that their memories are affecting ours?" Leon asked.

 

Aerith nodded with a smile. "Their memories do seem to have a certain power."

 

"Maybe it's like that guy said, then... This town is just an illusion, something my memories created." Sora frowned, his head bowed in thought.

 

Aerith turned back towards them. "And there's someone special to you in this town?"

 

Kairi blinked. "How did you know?"

 

Sora just nodded. "Oh... I get it. My memories are resonating in your heart, telling you what happened." It made sense, at least. "A friend of ours is somewhere in this town- I mean, in Castle Oblivion," Sora told her.

 

"Huh? Castle Oblivion?" Yuffie asked. "What's that? There aren't any castles around here."

 

"That's not quite what he means," Kairi said.

 

"You're still not sure what's going on yourselves," Aerith prompted gently. "Right?"

 

"Right. We just got here after all." Sora nodded. "I want to have a better look around."

 

"Then go have a look around," Leon said. "There's Heartless, but that shouldn't be a problem for you."

 

Sora grinned cockily. "So, you know I can fight?"

 

Leon snorted. "I can't say I know, but I feel like believing you. Let's leave it at that."

 

* * *

 

 As they walked across the Second District's square, Goofy frowned and thought with his hand on his chin. "So you were sayin' this town's just an illusion from your memories, right? But what's that mean?"

 

Sora shrugged. "I don't really know. It just seems like this world is connected to my memories somehow."

 

Kairi nodded. "Mine too."

 

"But it can't be an illusion!" Donald shouted, baffled. "We're standing right in it!"

 

"Gee, what about me and Donald?" said Goofy. "Are we from your memories, too?"

 

"I'm pretty sure Pluto is," Kairi noted as she scratched the likely illusory dog behind the ears. "He doesn't have the letter he was carrying earlier."

 

"But what if that Pluto wasn't real either?" Sora asked. "Maybe it was just a dream?"

 

Kairi stared at him. "...My head hurts."

 

Goofy sighed. "None of this makes a whole lotta sense."

 

Donald jumped suddenly. "Heartless!"

 

Several Soldiers appeared in the middle of the square.

 

"You're all so weak now..." Jiminy bemoaned, hiding behind Sora's spikes.

 

Sora shrugged. "We've just gotta practice, that's all!"

 

* * *

 

 

Sora smirked as he cut through the last Large Body. "See, what'd I tell ya!?" he twirled his keyblade around as he boasted at the others panting out of breath. "Don't you guys feel like we've got a better handle on things now?"

 

Kairi paled as she stared behind him. She stepped back and her hand was shaking as she pointed over his shoulder. Behind Sora was a pink monkey with a slingshot in its hand. As it stared the keyblade master down, a bunch of other identical creatures started teleporting in.

 

Jiminy froze. "Sniperwilds!"

 

"Retreat!"

 

As one they all sprinted towards the Third District, as more Heartless teleported into their path, shooting nuts and bananas hard enough to leave welts and bruises.

 

"AAAAHHH!"

 

"OW!"

 

"OUCH!"

 

"NOOO!"

 

"WAK!"

 

"YAAAA-HOO-HOO-HOO-HOOEY!"

 

* * *

 

 

"WHOA!" As he saw a familiar face, Sora slid to a stop, and Kairi crashed into him, Goofy and Donald following up behind.

 

"Hey, whaddaya know. It's Sora!" Cid smiled widely, then his smile faded to a look of confusion as he scratched the back of his head. "Wait, what am I saying? I don't know you. But you do LOOK like a Sora, what with the spiky hair and baggy pants... Guess I just call 'em like I see 'em."

 

Sora grinned. "It's okay Cid. That's my name."

 

Cid smirked and thumbed his nose. "So you've heard of me! Well, I can't say as I'm surprised." He preened cockily and Kairi rolled her eyes.

 

"Anyway, maybe you can help us out," Kairi said. "Some friends of ours are supposed to be somewhere in this castle---er, town. Got any ideas?"

 

Cid furrowed his brow in thought. "Your friend, huh? Lately all this town sees is Heartless. Can't take two steps without getting ambushed. And this plaza's the worst."

 

Cid looked up at the bell tower of the Second District's gizmo shop. "Word is we'll have a jumbo-sized Heartless on our hands when that bell rings. If you value your hide, you'll get out of here while the gettin's good." With that said, Cid walked off back to the First District.

 

Goofy started stepping backward. "Gawrsh, maybe we should leave too."

 

"Don't you wanna see the Heartless?" Sora said.

 

"No, we _don't_!" Donald snapped.

 

Suddenly, the bell tolled. Donald jumped. "The bell! Let's get outta here!"

 

The earth rumbled, and hunks of metal fell out of the sky before coming together into a large Heartless formed from many floating pieces.

 

The Guard Armor.

 

"Run!" Donald scrambled away only to bump into an invisible wall.

 

"Come on Donald!" Kairi cried as she jumped at the creature's hand and stabbed her keyblade down into it.

 

The feet stomped and kicked, knocking Donald around as until Goofy caught him and protected him. "We need your magic!" Goofy insisted.

 

Donald blinked up at the large Heartless, and raised his wand. "Fire?" he tried, and was answered with a fireball.

 

"Blizzard?" A cone of ice shards impacted every piece of the large Heartless.

 

Donald nodded. "Alright!"

 

Sora smacked the closest foot and spun around swinging his keyblade with one hand "Ha!" he cried, knocking the limb to the ground where it vanished into a puff of smoke.

 

Goofy slapped one of the claws with the face of his shield, knocking it towards Kairi, who swung her keyblade to hit it back to him. Together they batted the claw back and forth until Kairi pierced its wrist with her keyblade and used it as an improvised weapon to slash and rake the torso with before the hand disappeared completely.

 

Donald jumped and swung his staff into the creature's head as it floated down towards him, and Sora grinned as he spun around to catch it while it was dazed. He and Kairi jumped at the same moment, and their keyblades pierced through the creature's body. It shook for a moment, before the torso collapsed to the ground and faded to light.

 

* * *

 

 

"So your friend wasn't here?"

 

They paused at the door to the Zero District, where Merlin's house had been before. Kairi looked behind her to see Yuffie and the others, all smiling apologetically.

 

"No, I don't think I'll find him in this town," Sora replied. "But he's somewhere in this castle. I just know it."

 

Cid rolled his eyes. "Castle? Like this whole town's inside some humongous castle? Hoo, that's rich!" Leon clapped his hand onto the pilot's shoulder.

 

"We might not be able to understand it Cid," Leon said. "But Sora and his friends do. They can see that reality is bigger than just this town."

 

"I wish I could be so sure," Kairi mumbled.

 

"You'll be okay, Kairi," Leon said firmly. "No matter what shape reality takes, you four can handle it."

 

"Take care, kids! Stay out of trouble!"

 

"I'm a little lost, but best of luck anyway."

 

They accepted the hugs and well wishes until eventually the old friends dispersed and left. Donald and Goofy returned to the door and passed on through.

 

"Wait."

 

Sora and Kairi turned and saw Aerith looking somehow incredibly sad. "What's wrong?" Kairi asked.

 

"I don't have all the answers, but there's something I thought you should know. Your memories created this town, right?"

 

"That's what the guy who gave me the card said."

 

"If that's true," said Aerith, "then this town is just a figment of your mind...and so are we."

 

Sora's eyes widened. "But...you can't be a figment! You're standing right here. The town is here, too!"

 

"But I'm not really me. I don't remember the things I should. I sense things I shouldn't."

 

Kairi frowned, thinking hard. "But..."

 

"Beware your memories," Aerith said slowly. "In the journey to come, you'll be faced with more illusions. Sometimes the shadows of your memory will deceive you, try to lead you astray."

 

Sora blinked. "So, uh...what exactly does that mean?"

 

Aerith looked down at the ground and shrugged helplessly. "I'm just another illusion, Sora. The truth is out of my reach."

 

"Don't say stuff like that. It's depressing..."

 

Aerith slapped him, and grabbed Kairi by the shoulder. "No! You mustn't let illusions distract you from what's truly important."

 

"Sora!"

 

"Kairi!"

 

"Be right there," Kairi mumbled, before she noticed a weight on her shoulder had simply vanished.

 

"Aerith?" Sora and Kairi asked at once.

 

Donald frowned in exasperation. "Aerith left with Leon and the others, remember?"

 

Goofy leaned in and started checking both of their faces. "We were gettin' worried. The two of you were just standin' there all by yourselves."

 

"...Let's go," Sora said.

 

* * *

 

 

The girl sighed. It seemed like people only cared about her drawings when she drew what they wanted her to draw.

 

But still. She had to draw. Maybe if she kept drawing...

 

...Maybe her wishes could still come true.

 

So she led the boy and girl up through the castle. Maybe they would like her drawings? Someone had to, right?

 

* * *

 

 

"It's just like the last floor," Kairi noted.

 

"I think it's a little different," Sora said.

 

Before they could continue the two teens bumped into a black-clad torso. "Oops, pardon me."

 

They were both dragged back by Donald and Goofy as the man in black stood in front of them unfazed. "Well, did you enjoy meeting your memories?"

 

"It was good to see everyone again," Kairi said.

 

"But what do you want from us?" Sora demanded.

 

"That depends on what you have to give," the man said stepping forward.

 

They summoned their keyblades, as the scent of flowers in the air intensified.

 

"Boo."

 

All of a sudden there was another man in the room in the same black coat with the hood down, his hair a mess of bright red spikes. His eyes were green, and he had black teardrop-like triangles under his eyelids.

 

The hooded man froze, his posture suddenly stiffening. "What do you want?" he asked, sounding distinctly unhappy.

 

"I got bored, what with you hogging the hero," the newcomer snarked.

 

The hooded man tossed a card to the redhead. "Then perhaps you'd like to test him?"

 

"Perhaps I would." The red-haired man gave a smirk and a wave as the original disappeared into darkness.

 

"My show now, keyblade masters. My name's Axel. Got it memorized?"

 

Kairi blinked. "Uh... sure?" Sora nodded.

 

"Good. You kids learn quick. So, Sora, Kairi, now that we're on a first-name basis..."

 

Axel smiled at the corners of his mouth, his arms spread wide as an eight-pointed wheel appeared in each of his hands; a pair of spiked chakrams. "...Don't go dying on me!"

 

They readied their weapons as Axel threw one of his chakrams, Sora dodging to one side of it and Kairi rolling to the other. As they both charged at him they swung from both sides, only for him to vanish into darkness. Instead they ended up hitting each other in the cheek.

 

"Agh!" Sora cried, hitting the wall from the force of the swing, as Kairi fell over and passed out.

 

"Cure!" Donald cast on the two, before turning to point his wand towards Axel. "Fire!" he yelled.

 

Axel spread his arms and took the fireball in the center of his chest. _"Ooh!~"_ he moaned flirtatiously. "That feels _good_." He moved his right arm up lazily, gripping the chakram in it by only his little and ring fingers. "Aren't ya gonna buy me dinner first?" his smirk widened by a fraction. "I'm in the mood for ROAST DUCK!"

 

With a snap of his fingers, a wall of flame divided the hallway with Donald in the middle, the roar of the flames and Donald's pained screams overwhelming any other sound.

 

"I'm coming Donald!" Goofy shouted as he charged through the flames with his shield in front of him, grabbing the duck by the wing and slamming his shield into Axel's jaw as the redheaded man's eyes widened in surprise.

 

Kairi jumped through the wall of fire and pushed off of Goofy's head to get extra distance in the air and swung her weapon upward to club Axel towards the ceiling. Finally, Sora slammed his keyblade into Axel's back, knocking him down into the floor.

 

Seemingly unharmed, Axel rolled forward onto his feet, and swung at Kairi with one arm as she charged towards him, sweeping his leg around hers to knock her off balance. Unfortunately it didn't work, and he found her feet immovable, leading him to have to bring his other chakram around to parry her counter attack, his arm bending against his torso as she pushed against his guard. Desperately, he threw his first chakram towards her, but instead of backing off she simply leaned her head to the side, seemingly not caring about the weapon as it flew by, cutting and singing her hair.

 

"Who are you?" Kairi asked.

 

As Axel's elbow dug into his ribs his face twisted into an expression of mock hurt. "Aw, you don't remember me Kairi?" He tutted condescendingly and smirked. "But what about all those good times we had together? All the times I used to save you?"

 

"You know me?" Kairi asked, surprised. Axel tried to push her away and found that she wasn't budging.

 

"Why, sure! We used to be best pals after all..."

 

Suddenly Kairi's eyes widened in surprised recognition. "Did you used to be that dumb babysitter?"

 

* * *

 

The girl at the top of the castle whistled as she sketched the latest drawing, a pair of redheads, a teenager with green eyes and a toddler whose irises were indigo. The little girl was stomping on the foot of the older boy, the boy's blue-haired best friend doubtlessly somewhere in the background rolling his eyes.

 

It's not like all the hidden memories she showed them had to be fake, right?

 

She whistled for another bar before singing softly. _"Just whistle while you work~"_

 

* * *

 

 

Axel blinked and she stomped on his foot, and swung her keyblade into the side of his face. He spun his chakrams around as he fell back, catching her in the midriff and surprising her with a burst of flame that sent her flying onto her rear.

 

 Sora jumped and slashed at Axel, hitting the taller man in the shoulder, and as Axel spun to retaliate, Sora slapped him in the ribs and across the knee.

 

Donald started attacking Axel with shards of ice, and as he warped away from the frozen onslaught he found he ended up having to drag an extra weight on his leg.

 

In Betwixt and Between, Axel looked down and saw Kairi with her arm wrapped around his leg, her keyblade pointing at his face. "Water".

 

Kairi appeared out of a dark portal and fell back to the ground, a few cards clutched in her hand. The group looked around and helped Kairi to her feet, and sighed in relief when Axel failed to reappear.

 

"More cards?" Goofy wondered aloud.

 

"Like the one that made Traverse Town?" Jiminy suggested.

 

"Correct."

 

They looked up, and saw Axel leaning calmly against one of the pillars of the wall. His hair was wet, but he otherwise seemed unharmed.

 

"Axel!"

 

Axel shrugged. "After an introduction like that, you don't think I'd just give up the ghost?"

 

"You were just testing us," Kairi accused.

 

Axel grinned. "You passed! Congrats. You're ready to take on Castle Oblivion. Follow your memories. Trust what you remember, seek what you forget...and you will find someone very special."

 

"You mean Riku and the king?" Goofy asked before anyone else could.

 

"Well, I don't know. You'll just have to give some more thought to who's most important to you. Our most precious memories lie deep in our hearts, out of reach. But you both can find yours, Sora, Kairi."

 

"Where? How?" Sora demanded.

 

"The light within the darkness. You've lost sight of it, you both have. You've forgotten forgetting."

 

"The light within darkness?" Kairi muttered. Why did that sound so familiar?

 

Axel held out his hand in a way that was agonizingly familiar. "Would you like a hint?"

 

Goofy frowned. "Gawrsh, do ya need it?"

 

Sora shook his head resolutely. "No, I want to figure it out for myself. And if you get in my way —"

 

Donald raised his wand. "He won't. We won't let him!"

 

Axel smiled at that and let his hand drop. "That's my kind of answer. Just what I'd expect from a Keyblade master. But be forewarned... When your sleeping memories awaken, you may no longer be you."

 

He left with that, vanishing as if he was never there at all.


	2. Floor Two: /Basement 12:

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow this chapter's late. Sorry, been busy with work and personal stuff.
> 
> And, from a writing perspective, been trying to figure out just what the hell I'm doing with the Disney worlds. On the one hand, most of them in Chain aren't very good. On the other hand, I need filler. On the other other hand, some of them are REALLY good, I thought.
> 
> And I love writing for Hades. Which I haven't done this chapter! And writing Genie isn't as fun. It just makes me sad. :(

_Well said, Riku._

 

Riku blinked back the tears as he opened his eyes and sat up. In one hand he held a card, in the other a star made of shells with a face drawn on it.

 

He gazed at the charm, and thought back and reminisced about all of the stories he'd always heard about Wayfinders. About good luck to sailors on journeys. About being able to find the way home to one's friends, family or lovers.

 

Kairi gave him this at the door, and it wasn't hard to figure out why.

 

He glanced at the door at the other hand of the shining white marble hall. He looked back and saw only a solid white wall behind him.

 

Only one way to go.

 

* * *

 

 "Hmm..."

 

"What's up Jiminy?" Kairi asked.

 

"What Axel said's been bothering me..." Jiminy said. "What could he have meant by 'you may no longer be you'?"

 

Sora simply shrugged. "'Come on. How can I be anyone besides me?"

 

Jiminy nodded. "I know, I know."

 

Kairi frowned in thought, distracted. She couldn't stop thinking about the other thing Axel had said. _The light in the darkness? Why does that sound so familiar?_  "We still need to be careful though."

 

Goofy nodded. "Yep. Seems like anything could happen here in Castle Oblibbity..." Goofy paused. "...Uh, Oblostomy? Osteoporosis?"

 

"Oblivion!" Donald said with surprising patience.

 

"Right, what you said."

 

Sora shrugged again. "We'll be fine. Whatever they're cooking up, together we can handle it."

 

Goofy suddenly brightened up. "Hey, remember that other castle we explored together? With all the contraptions?"

 

Kairi blinked. She couldn't think of anything with that description. "We've been to another castle?"

 

"When was that?" Sora asked.

 

Donald frowned. "Contraptions? I don't remember a castle like that. What was it called."

 

Goofy blinked. "Gawrsh, what was it again? Holla...? Holly? Holler..." Goofy stood still with his arms crossed. "Sorry, I can't remember."

 

Donald stomped his foot. "Wak! Stop goofing around!"

 

"You sure you didn't make it up?" Sora asked.

 

Goofy continued in intense thought. "I don't think so..."

 

* * *

 

Riku stood on the balcony of Hollow Bastion's entrance hall. Finally, he got impatient at all the running around and snapped.

 

"Where are the people in my memories?"

 

_Are you sure you want to see them?_

 

Riku hesitated for a moment. "Of course I do."

 

 _But you cast them_ _aside,_  The voice whispered.  _To reach the outside world, you passed through the door to darkness. Behind you, you left family, friends, home — everything — all in pursuit of darkness._

 

"But I cast that aside too!" Riku declared.

 

_Then what do you have to show for it? First your home, then the dark. Your heart only knows how to throw things away. It's empty, like that room. Like your memories. That's why no one is in the castle with you. Your heart is hollow except for the darkness you couldn't quite shake off._

 

Riku grinned at the voice. "You're full of it. I've got one thing out of it. One thing I'll never cast aside."

 

He dug into his pocket and dug out the lucky charm. It shone brilliantly, and when it was done, there they were. Sora and Kairi, side by side.

 

He reached for them, then stopped with a frown when his fingers went right through them as they stood there in front of the fountain.

 

 _...Did you really?_ The voice sounded like it was gloating.

 

Riku sighed, then stood up straight and started up the stairs towards the exit of the hall.

 

* * *

 

 

As they blinked back the sun, Sora noticed that Pluto was back.

 

"Hey, where'd you go—"

 

"Look! Someone's in trouble!"

 

 Sora looked, and already Kairi was charging forward with a yell towards a young man in a purple vest and a fez, surrounded by Heartless.

 

Sora frowned. He couldn't let her have _all_ the fun. He ran in and defended the man as a scimitar sliced down at him. "Looks like you can use some help, Aladdin."

 

"You're right! It _is_ Aladdin!" Donald said.

 

"And this place must be Agrabah!" said Goofy.

 

Aladdin nodded and scrambled to his feet, drawing his own weapon. "Thanks! I thought I was done for!"

 

Kairi held up the card they'd gotten from Leon. "Courage!" There was a flash, and a lion appeared and roared loudly, obliterating several of the Heartless with the force. Sora blasted a Fat Bandit with a hunk of ice, and Goofy spun around and cut through some Yellow Operas. Once the Heartless were all gone, Kairi helped Aladdin up.

 

"You guys are pretty tough," Aladdin said. "But how do you know me? Have we met before?"

 

They all frowned. "No, I don't think so," Kairi admitted.

 

"Have you seen these two!?" Sora shoved a piece of paper in Aladdin's face, with a pair of drawings on it, one of Mickey, one of Riku.

 

Aladdin blinked. "Uh, no. Sorry."

 

The quartet sighed.

 

Aladdin shrugged, and pulled a brass oil lamp out of his pocket. "I have to get this lamp to the palace, but I promise I'll help you guys out when I'm done."

 

Kairi looked at it. "Looks kinda dusty..." she remarked.

 

Aladdin looked down on it and started brushing his fingers across the surface. "Did I get it?"

 

Suddenly there was an explosion of sound and light as blue smoke erupted from the lamp's spout that formed a torso, arms and a head and a storm of confetti and sparks of light surrounded them. "WOO! WAS STARTIN' TO WORRY I WAS NEVER GETTIN' OUTTA THERE!"

 

Donald rolled his eyes while Goofy and Kairi clapped politely. "Hey Genie," Sora said with a wave.

 

Genie got right up into Sora's face. "So YOU'RE the one who rubbed the lamp and set me free!?"

 

Sora shook his head, and he pointed at Aladdin, who was staring wide-eyed with the lamp still in his hands.

 

"I was supposed to deliver it to somebody else..." Aladdin mumbled as Genie rushed up to him.

 

"But you're my master!" Genie declared as he swept Aladdin up in his arms. "So ya better make some wishes!" He glared at Aladdin threateningly as he said this, his eyes suddenly bloodshot.

 

Meanwhile, a red parrot watching from above held its beak in its wing before flying off back towards the palace. "Jafar!"

 

* * *

 

 

Riku frowned as he walked into the castle chapel. "No one's here either. So who am I supposed to meet?"

 

"Did you think you would meet your friends? Sorry to disappoint you."

 

Riku glared at the source of the voice, as green flames surrounded the room and a figure in a long robe strode forward. "Maleficent!"

 

Snarling, Riku summoned Soul Eater to his hand, ready to fight.

 

Maleficent eyed the weapon dismissively. "What kind of greeting is that? After I took you in like a son...?" She stepped towards him, her arms opened to her sides.

 

"Don't come any closer," Riku said softly. "Of all the people I could run into, it had to be you."

 

Maleficent nodded. "But of course. Don't I love you more than anyone else in all these worlds? Here, come closer to me..." Riku stared at her hand as she reached towards him.

 

Riku slapped her hand aside, and stepped back, as Maleficent laughed and cackled. "What's so funny!" he demanded.

 

"Your heart is steeped in darkness," she said. "And so you are only able to see those who exist in that same darkness like myself. It's only natural."

 

Riku stared. as Maleficent went on. "Be grateful you have someone to keep you company. Your heart is empty. If not for darkness lingering there, you would be completely alone."

 

"I'm not really interested in your company."

 

Maleficent sniffed. "Is that so? You once turned to me to sate your hunger for the darkness. In the depths of your heart, you must have wished to see me. Who else can grant you the darkness you long for?"

 

Riku looked to the side. "There was a time I did want you around. I surrendered my heart to the darkness."

 

Maleficent stood quietly as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a star-shaped charm. "But now I know: you and your darkness have nothing to offer."

 

He flicked his wrist and Soul Eater came downward, flashing and changing shape, so that the blade was two white shafts connecting into a heart at the top, with a heart shape below the blade at where it met the handle, this lower heart flanked by a pair of tiny crosses to the sides.

 

Maleficent blinked.

 

"I'm finished with all that," Riku declared, holding the star charm in front of him as it and his transformed blade shone. "If I'm stuck seeing people like you, people of the dark... I'll take you out, one by one."

 

He lunged at Maleficent, but found her staff intercepted his blow. "Then you mustn't forget to destroy yourself last. You are as much of the dark as I."

 

"Fine! I turned to darkness because my heart was weak. I hate that weakness!" He jumped back, before running in to attack again.

 

The tip of his blade grazed Maleficent's chin, but the fairy seemed unfazed. "So you hate the darkness enough to think only you can fight it?" She tsked as pity shone in her eyes. "How your heart must be suffering. I can almost feel it myself."

 

"SHUT UP!"

 

Maleficent's expression flashed to anger, and, for a moment, her features seemed to change, becoming more draconian— but it passed, and she simply stood before him, head held high as she allowed him to strike through her. "The one thing you wish for with all your heart is darkness," she whispered, fire licking at the corners of her mouth. She reached out, her arm shaking, and clasped her fingers around his free hand, curling his own even tighter against Kairi's lucky charm. "...But all the same," she smiled softly at him, as he stared, horrified. "Keep searching for your light. The closer you get to it, the greater your own shadow will grow."

 

Flames engulfed her, and as she faded to nothing he swore he could hear a last set of words hiss past her lips. _"I'm proud of you."_

 

* * *

 

 

"Now! Genies! I wish the princess will fall madly in love with me!"

 

Kairi stared, as her jaw fell open and the turban shifted on her head. "But you're so _old._ "

 

"DO AS I SAY!" Jafar commanded.

 

She glanced at Sora, then at Donald, then Goofy. They nodded.

 

"ATTACK!"

 

Jafar jumped in surprise, as Jasmine slashed at the Fat Bandit holding her with her crown and ran to stand behind Aladdin.

 

"You aren't genies at all! You street rats think you can trick me!? How dare—"

 

"Sorry I'm late!"

 

Kairi blinked as Genie appeared in the palace's thrown room.

 

_Aladdin smiled as he held the lamp in his hands, dressed as a prince with fine white clothes. "I wish for your freedom, Genie."_

 

_Genie stared as the manacles around his wrists vanished, and tears welled up in his eyes._

 

_"...So what are we gonna do about that vizier guy?"_

 

"What are you doing ba—" Kairi's mouth zipped closed as Genie snapped his fingers.

 

Jafar blinked at this display of magic. "So you're the real deal this time?" He questioned suspiciously.

 

Genie grinned and pointed his fingers at Jafar and Iago, who were instantly dressed in a beautiful belly dancing outfit and a grand sultan's robes respectively, before with a flash of light the outfits were switched, and in another flash Iago was dressed in a royal vizier's robes identical to the ones Jafar wore normally.

 

Jafar stared at the genie before shrugging, a wicked grin lighting up his face.

 

"I wish to be the most powerful sorcerer in the world! AHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!"

 

Genie looked nonplussed at that as Jafar's laughs grew in intensity and volume. "You sure that's it?"

 

Jafar's cackling came to a halt as he glared at Genie hatefully. "YES!"

 

Genie shrugged. "I mean, you could wish to be an all-powerful Genie..." He summoned a glass of tea and held it to his lips. "But that's none of my business."

 

Jafar blinked. "...Do I have to go around half-naked like you?"

 

Genie paused in his sip and looked affronted. "...You might get used to it."

 

Jafar stared. "Oh. VERY WELL THEN! IN THAT CASE! GENIE! MY FIRST TRUE WISH! MAKE ME! AN ALL-POWERFUL!"

 

Genie rolled his eyes and snapped his fingers. "Yeesh, I get it, we all know where this is going."

 

"...Especially you folks at home," he added with a wink.

 

* * *

 

 

The girl in black jumped back, startled, and fell out of her chair away from the crystal ball.

 

Hiding behind her chair, she watched as the blue man changed the vizier, and as Sora and the others fought the newly transformed red genie, the way sweat trailed down Sora's neck, the way the muscles of Kairi's back bunched and flexed under her top...

 

Flushing red, she jumped back into her chair as the door to the room opened and a woman wearing the same cloak walked in. The older blonde ignored her, and snapped her fingers, causing a number of white and gray husks to appear and start warping and interlocking their forms, until eventually they arranged themselves into a large gray sofa.

 

The woman jumped onto the seat and propped her feet up and read a book with what seemed to be a variety of torture implements on the cover.

 

The girl sighed, and reluctantly turned back to her desk, picking up her crayon once more to draw.

 

* * *

 

 

In the darkness of the basement, the dark grey-haired schemer looked up from his musings as a mountain of a man appeared before him in a vortex of darkness.

 

He waited patiently as the chestnut-headed figure stood there silently, before finally sighing in exasperation. "Don't I even get a 'hello' Lexaeus?"

 

An angular-faced and gaunt man with long blonde hair appeared next, irritation flashing in his eyes. "What's going on, Zexion? I demand an explanation."

 

Zexion sighed once again. "Nice to see you too, Vexen," he said calmly before continuing. "You know, it's deplorable..." Zexion shook his head sadly. "The Organization used to be the rope that binds us. And now it's full of kinks."

 

Vexen glared. "How dare you—!?"

 

"Let it go Vexen," Lexaeus interrupted calmly, in a tone that brooked no argument. "Tell us, Zexion, what did you detect?"

 

"Visitors. I picked up two scents in the castle's lowest basement. One of them was Maleficent, but—"

 

"Absurd," Vexen scoffed. "The witch is gone. She cannot return from the realm of darkness of her own volition—"

 

" _—If_ you would let me finish." Zexion focused on Vexen with a glare before continuing. "The scent belonged not to Maleficent but a very convincing double. But I can't say much beyond that, since the would-be Maleficent is no more. Our other visitor saw to that."

 

"Who is it?" Lexaeus asked.

 

Zexion steepled the fingers of his hands together in front of himself. "I don't know..." he admitted. "But the scent was very similar to the Superior's. _Exactly_ similar, if I may say."

 

"Rubbish," Vexen dismissed.

 

"Fact, Vexen," Zexion countered. "Now, what shall we do?"

 

"We wait," Lexaeus rumbled. "See what develops."

 

* * *

 

 

"What is it, Goofy?"

 

Goofy paused as they stood in the exit to the floor, his face scrunched up deep in thought. "It's that castle I mentioned earlier. I'm sure I didn't make it up. That was the castle where Sora used the Keyblade to free Kairi's heart."

 

Kairi gasped as she nodded. "Right! That's where I got my keyblade too, and Sora turned into a Heartless!"

 

Sora frowned. "That happened in a castle?"

 

"You forgot?" Donald sneered. "Well, _I_ remember it perfectly."

 

"What was it called," Sora challenged.

 

"Easy! It was..." Donald held one feather up in the air, with his mouth open, for an uncomfortably long moment.

 

"Hey, Jiminy. You wrote down everything that happened in your journal, right?" Kairi asked, in an attempt to help Donald out.

 

"Oh yeah, I forgot about the Jiminy memo," Goofy said.

 

* * *

 

 

"Don't look at me," the girl in black mumbled, as she glanced at the crystal ball. "You forgot that all on your own."

 

"You know they can't hear you, right?" The woman commented from the couch.

 

The girl frowned, before standing up. "I need some fresh air," she announced, leaving through the doors the other woman had entered moments before.

 

The woman shrugged and licked the finger of her glove before turning the page.

 

* * *

 

_"Only darkness can help you now." He sneered._

 

_"You're wrong!"_

 

_"That voice...! Your Majesty, is that you?!"_

 

_"You betcha! Riku, you're not alone. Listen careful now, Riku. The light'll never give up on you. You'll always find it, even in the deepest darkness! But you have to believe!"_

 

The man known as Ansem sighed as the corridor of darkness closed behind him. "If only it were so easy, my friend..." he muttered.

 

"Perhaps it can be."

 

He whirled around and lunged, hoping to destroy the accursed and vile _Nobody_ that had followed him _—_

 

 _—_ Only to stop in his tracks as chains wrapped around his arm, and his entire body. He stared in shock at the familiar face, one that reminded of home, and fountains and flowers. For a moment, it seemed she had barely changed at all. But the red locks of hair framing that face turned gold.

 

She _(No, **IT,**_ he insisted to himself) wasn't even here, he noted idly out of agitation. Just an illusion.

 

He yanked at the chains and winced as they dug at his flesh. An illusion that could still overpower him, it seemed. Unfortunate.

 

"...You should speak to them," she said, calmly.

 

Ansem simply glared at her in response.

 

"Your friends," she clarified. "Your apprentices, your children."

 

"I have none of those things," he said brokenly, as, rather than the voice of the Seeker of Darkness, his words came out instead as that of Darkness in Zero, as he inadvertently dropped his persona out of exhaustion.

 

"...You want revenge? Yes?"

 

He glared at her hatefully. The abomination that  _dared_ to wear her face. Thankfully, the force of his rage seemed to have some effect, as she flinched, and recoiled as if struck.

 

"What do you want, Nobody?"

 

The frail slip of a girl _(No, not a girl, definitely not a girl, or a child, or a person of any kind)_ seemed to be affected by that reminder as well, before nodding and holding her head up high.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next up: Olympus Coliseum! And also Agrabah! Again!


	3. Floor 3: It's All Greek to Me II: Greek Harder /Basement 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I'm so late on this! I've got a lot of personal stuff that's been going on, what with being a full-time teacher and also becoming a single mom. I think there's a scene in here I literally wrote while in labor. Unless I went back and deleted it in editing, that's been happening a lot too.
> 
> ...Also I've been wasting probably way too much time playing Kingdom Hearts Unchained X. And Final Fantasy XV.
> 
> And then 2.8 happened lmfao
> 
> ...And 1.5 + 2.5 and Dark Souls and Nier: A Tomato and OKAY, I admit, I'm just a procrastinating piece of shit lol

"Something funny's going on..." Donald scowled. "How could everything Jiminy wrote vanish like that?"

 

"Maybe it's not just stuff we write down," Sora said. "Goofy said we've been to some other castle. But I don't remember it at all. None of us really do. Maybe...Maybe we don't remember because those memories are gone."

 

Kairi blinked. "Gone?"

 

Donald frowned. "Don't be ridiculous!"

 

"Wait!" Jiminy started jumping from his place on Sora's shoulder. "Remember what that guy in the black hood said? 'In this place, to find is to lose and to lose is to find.' He was talking about memories!"

 

"So if we keep going, we'll lose our memories..." Sora said.

 

"No wonder they call it Castle Oblivion," said Kairi.

 

  
"So the higher we go, the more we forget?" Donald said. "What if we forget everything and can't get it back?"

 

Kairi looked Sora in the eye. "We'd forget Riku, too..."

 

"Maybe we should turn back..." said Donald.

 

"Don't worry fellahs!" They turned and looked at Goofy as he held his fist in his palm. "We might forget about where we've been or what things we've seen, but we won't forget who our friends are."

 

Donald looked dubious at this. "I don't know..."

 

Goofy looked at Sora. "C'mon, Sora, when you turned into a Heartless, did you forget about us?"

 

Sora looked insulted by this suggestion. "Of course not!" He grabbed Kairi's hand. "I'd never forget you!" Kairi blushed at this.

 

"There ya go! No matter what happens, you won't forget your friends."

 

Kairi nodded, and squeezed Sora's hand back before looking back at Goofy. "You're right. Thanks, Goofy," she said.

 

Donald nodded as if it was all his idea, and began strutting forward towards the door. "I guess there's nothing to be scared of after all. So let's go!"

 

Sora grinned next to her, and Kairi glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. "But back when I was a Heartless, who was the one who clobbered me, hmm?"

 

Donald froze. "That's what you should be forgetting," he growled in a low voice.

 

* * *

 

"Permeating my bones?"

 

Riku laughed hollowly as he strode forward, the taste of darkness flooding his senses. "Maybe there's no turning back for me after all."

 

_"Riku"_

 

"Sorry, your majesty, but do you really think I'll make it?"

 

_"Don't worry, Riku."_

 

"But what if—"

 

_"Don't give up on yourself!"_

 

Riku blinked, as the king appeared before him.

 

_"Who cares what ya smell like? Believe in yourself. And brush your teeth. Then give yourself a good scrub in the bath and you'll feel much better!"_

 

Riku stared. The king looked a lot more... fuzzy than he had before. Almost transparent.

 

Mickey grinned and looked at himself in the hallway. _"Sorry, I know I'm not as solid as you're used ta. I can only send a bit of my power here. But I have a request."_

 

Riku blinked. "A request? From your majesty?"

 

Mickey nodded. _"Fight the darkness inside you! It won't be easy, but don't forget! Even in the deepest darkness, there's always a little bit of light."_

 

Riku blinked, and held up the Wayfinder that Kairi had given him. "Light within darkness?"

 

Mickey nodded. _"You and me have seen it! The far-off, welcoming light inside the door to darkness. The light of Kingdom Hearts will show you the way."_

 

 _"So please..."_ Riku brushed the tears from his eyes.

 

"Give me some credit your majesty! I'll be alright."

 

Mickey blinked, then nodded. _"Alright, haha."_

 

Riku nodded. "He's not gonna get his way."

 

Mickey extended his gloved hand. _"Then let's make a promise. I'll get to you as soon as I can."_

 

Riku nodded, but as his fingers brushed those of the rodent they ended up phasing right through each other.

 

"...Did that handshake count?"

 

Mickey nodded. _"We shook hands in our hearts. We're connected, you and me!"_

 

Riku nodded. "Thanks, your majesty."

 

* * *

 

 As they strode up to the Coliseum gates, Donald rushed ahead towards a board covered in symbols. "Look, an announcement!"

 

 "It's for some kind of contest," Jiminy said as he hopped up on one of Sora's spikes to get a better look. "It says here that—"

 

"The Goddess of Spring Survival Cup," Kairi read aloud, interrupting the cricket. "Contestants have to enter an obstacle course, fighting each other along the way."

 

Jiminy glared at her before continuing. "Listen to this: 'The great hero Hercules will also compete for the Cup.' It says here he's never been beaten."

 

Sora crossed his arms in front of his chest and grinned. "Sounds like fun. Why don't we enter too?"

 

Goofy shook his head. "I thought you'd say that. Whenever there's a contest, you're rarin' to join up."

 

"What are we waiting for?" Kairi interrupted from the front gates. "The preliminary course is up ahead! Let's get going!" She turned and ran towards the stone doors, giggling as Sora gave chase after her, Jiminy trying to hold on as Donald and Goofy followed close behind.

 

The quartet ran off laughing, as a dark figure with a head covered in blue flame approached the sign they'd been reading. He had his arm around a spiky-haired blonde man who seemed distinctly uncomfortable with the situation, but was unwilling to speak up.

 

"So I said, hey, Sephie, sweetheart, baby girl, apple of my eye, light of my life, whaddya want for your birthday, just name it, babe, and it's yours, and what does she want?" Cloud opened his mouth to speak, but Hades pressed onward anyway, ignoring him. "I'll tell ya what she wants: A big ol' sports tournament. Just one problem though; NOBODY'S SIGNED UP!" Cloud winced at the yelling in his ear, and was considering slipping away when Hades's ranting slowed and then stopped when they approached the sign.

 

For a moment Hades stared at the sign then started to slowly read from it aloud. "'...Hercules is a model of true strength and gallantry---the perfect hero!?' My baby girl's big day and he makes it all about himself!? WHY THAT LITTLE..."

 

Cloud watched as Hades grew more and more red, then finally shrugged off the god's arm. "That's what you hired me for, right?"

 

Hades whirled around to stare at him, his face a mix of rage and confusion. Cloud shrugged and nonchalantly ran his hand through his bangs. "I'll take care of Hercules in the games. Put on a good show for your kid. And you'll restore my lost memories, right?"

 

Hades nodded mutely, then turned back to the signboard as Cloud walked off.

 

Cloud heard the god of the underworld's continued muttering, then winced as an anguished, angry scream was coupled with a sudden wave of heat at his back.

 

* * *

 

 

Riku frowned as he stepped through the door into a very familiar room.

 

He looked and saw the world's keyhole at his back. In front of him, on the floor, passed out, was the princess.

 

...He realized, to his deep frustration, that he couldn't quite remember her name.

 

He knew he'd heard it. But he hadn't paid enough attention to it, clearly.

 

He crouched down by her shoulder, and attempted to rouse her by gently shaking her. "Get up," he murmured quietly. "Your people need you, your highness." He continued for a minute or so, before freezing when he heard a scoff behind him.

 

"And what precisely do you think you're going to achieve?"

 

Riku whirled around and glared as green flames appeared, forming first a quirked eyebrow and then the rest of Maleficent as she gazed down at him and the princess.

 

"Didn't I defeat you already!?" Riku summoned Soul Eater to his hand, as dark smoke swirled around his arm. Maleficent simply shook her head as a response.

 

"Your memory of me is not eliminated so easily. Not while you cling so tightly to the light." Maleficent said, before freezing in a mix of disgust, horror and pity, as some new idea occurred to her. "Perhaps, in your mind, I might even be one of the lights you wish to see?"

 

"Like I'd ever want to see you again!" Riku snarled, glaring.

 

Maleficent sniffed and turned away from him. "In that case, why am I here? This castle created me from YOUR memories, unless you've forgotten."

 

Riku glared. "I defeated you once," he said. "You shouldn't be here at all. The light should have gotten rid of you."

 

Maleficent snorted. "You can't defeat darkness with light. Any half-baked fairy godmother could tell you that."

 

Riku glared, then turned and started trying to shake the princess awake again. Her head lolled awkwardly from side to side, and he winced and gently eased her back down to the ground.

 

"Aren't you going to do something about that?" Maleficent said derisively.

 

Riku looked at where she was indicating, and glanced at the large red form of Jafar in the lava pit down below, Sora, Donald, and a dark-skinned young man in a purple vest frozen in place glaring with weapons drawn at Jafar's annoying pet parrot. Riku glanced at Maleficent out of the corner of his eye. "Will he stay down after I beat him, or stick around to haunt me like an annoying creditor like you?"

 

Maleficent simply smirked. "You'll find that memories of him are not nearly as persistent as I am."

 

Riku shrugged, before jumping into the hole in the earth. "Good enough for me."

 

* * *

 

In the darkness of the basment, Zexion opened his eyes. "The Maleficent scent has reappeared."

 

Vexen paused in his pacing and glared at the younger man incredulously, while Lexaeus thoughtfully chewed on the pickled radishes Zexion had prepared earlier. "Stop wasting our time," Vexen scoffed. "I thought we established that Maleficent was a double. Stop wasting our time and figure out the identity of the other intruder!"

 

Zexion looked up at Vexen, the withering glint in his eye leaving the other man speechless. "...I would not interrupt me again, Vexen. And while you are correct, there's something about this Maleficent that seems different. Slightly more corporeal, more real, and growing more so all the time, albeit slowly. Tell me, are you aware that some sorcerers have sought to attain immortality through the memories of others?"

 

Vexen put his hand on his chin. "You are proposing that Maleficent is using the properties of Castle Oblivion to return to the realm of the living?"

 

Zexion shrugged expansively. "I am proposing nothing as of yet. Merely observing that something seems unusual about this memory double, and its connection to the other intruder to whom it is linked: Riku."

 

Vexen nodded thoughtfully. "Ah, I see. His existence was once doubled in the darkness."

 

Zexion pouted slightly, annoyed at the fact that Vexen had said what he had been about to. Lexaeus looked between the two other men and swallowed before speaking. "That must be why you mistook him for the Superior," he supplied. "Because, in a sense, he _is_."

 

"The dark power given to Riku facilitated his escape from its realm," Vexen hypothesized. "One with ties to both the Keyblade and the powers of darkness? This merits further research."

 

Zexion brought his hand to his mouth. "What I want to know is, why he appeared here in Castle Oblivion," he wondered.

 

Vexen gestured dismissively. "Ha! That's simple. His existence resonates with those of other heroes. Sora and Kairi came, so Riku followed."

 

Zexion paused in his train of thought as it was forcibly derailed, and he and Lexaeus lowered their arms to their sides. "Sora and Kairi are _in_ the Castle?" Zexion repeated.

 

"Yes," said Vexen. "They and their companions arrived earlier. By now that dog Marluxia is already using Number XV to meddle with their hearts."

 

Zexion bowed his head in thought. "Without even bothering to consult us," he mused aloud.

 

"What a foolish plan," Vexen scoffed. "Theirs is not such an interesting existence. The entity that holds true value is clearly Riku, the hero of darkness."

 

 "Don't be so sure," Lexaeus interrupted. "None of us suspected one of the Seven might be chosen, not even the Superior. That one so pure can also wield the keyblade is worth investigation."

 

* * *

 

 Kairi ran through the doors as fireballs and nuts flew past, hurriedly pulling it shut as her friends ran in past her. She slumped against it with a sigh as Donald and Goofy panted, while Sora healed everyone with a few cure spells.

 

"Where'd you guys come from? You finish the prelims?"

 

They looked behind Sora and saw a goat-man was already in the small lobby, scrutinizing them. Sora grinned and nodded. The satyr rolled his eyes.

 

"Well, ya made it alright, but you might as well head back if you're interested in winning. You're never going to beat Herc."

 

Kairi frowned. "Why not?"

 

"Yeah, come on Phil, they cleared the prelims. I think they deserve a shot."

 

A muscular man in a bronze chest plate strode in, as Phil sighed. "But Herc—"

 

Hercules grinned cheekily. "Of course, we could always cancel the games."

 

"Um, no???"

 

They looked and suddenly in a mix of vines, pollen and a faint hint of frost and smoke there was a glowing young woman in the room with them, with a crown like flower petals around her face. Phil leered for a moment and then winced when she turned her gaze at him.

 

"I wanted the main event of my personal festival to be a physical contest because I need strapping young mortals to do all the vigorous plowing and sowing and seeding of the fields for Spring-time." The goddess bent down and grabbed the goat-man by the horns, before lifting him up to her eye-level. "I approached YOU, Philoctetes, because of your skill with training heroes, and organizing competitions such as this, famed throughout Greece and among all the Gods of Olympus."

 

"And I just want to thank you again Miss Persephone, I'm so glad you picked me for— URK!"

 

 Hercules grabbed Phil by the mouth and gently pulled him away from Persephone, who readily relinquished the trainer of heroes to her cousin. "Old Phil's prelim course was so hard, no one else could finish it," he explained with a shrug.

 

Sora stepped between the goddess and Phil, raising his hands up placatingly. "Let us compete, and you won't have to cancel the games! How about it, Phil?"

.

Phil glanced between the boy, the goddess standing behind him with a coldly murderous look in her eyes, and the boy's friends standing by the entrance. "You've got me over a barrel," he admitted, "so fine. Since your team and Hercules are the only contenders—"

 

"They're not."

 

They looked, and saw a young man stride in slowly, his hair blonde and spiky, a tattered red scarf around his neck and shoulders. The man brushed his bangs out of his face with one hand. "The games have a new challenger. Name's Cloud."

 

Persephone nodded and left through the front gates. "Good. Perhaps now it will be worth watching."

 

Phil glanced nervously at the departing goddess, before casting his gaze on all the contestants.  "Everybody line up! I've gotta explain the rules. Rule #1: First one through the obstacle course wins! Rule #2! In the event of a tie, a battle will determine the winner! Rule #3! You can interfere with your opponents on the course! And finally...Rule #4! All challengers have to give it everything they got!"

 

Kairi got into a stance, keeping her balance light on her feet.

 

"All right, enough with the spiel." Phil opened the doors to the course, and raised his arm in the air. "On your marks... Get set... GO!!"

 

The competitors all raced forward, Kairi giggling all the while.

 

* * *

 

 Riku grinned cheekily at the bird as it flew away from him. "You're finished!" he announced, before jumping forward and stabbing through the lamp in the parrot's talons.

 

The red genie howled in pain before vanishing in blackness, as the darkness engulfed him.

 

Riku dismissed his weapon, and looked around, slowly realizing there was nowhere for him to go. He glanced at the lava below the platform, glowing brightly ( _invitingly_ ) but seemingly radiating no heat. He took a breath, and dove forward, bracing himself for the heat, for the burning. It never came. Instead the lava disappeared around him like mist, leaving him standing in the white hallway, the door at his back. He looked around in confusion for a moment, before stepping forward. He ran up the stairs to the next door, and held a card aloft, not bothering with checking which one.

 

It's not like his memories could bring him something worse than what actually happened the first time.

 

* * *

 

 Sora ran panting through the gates to see Cloud on one knee, Hercules standing over him with arms crossed. "You lost," Hercules announced, "Give it up, Cloud!"

 

Donald frowned and glanced at Goofy. "How did Cloud beat us here again?"

 

Goofy scratched his head and shrugged. Kairi pursed her lips, and crossed her arms in front of her chest as she bowed her head in thought. "I mean, we beat him earlier," she noted, "And he ran in the other direction..."

 

They were interrupted by Sora, running forward and standing between Hercules and Cloud. "Don't worry, I'll back you up!"

 

Cloud rolled his shoulders. "Get all the backup you want. I'm going to finish you and get back my memories!"

 

Kairi frowned, and stepped forward, her keyblade lowered disarmingly. "Your memories?" she asked.

 

"...Yeah, seriously, what're you talking about kid?"

 

Kairi jumped as Hades appeared in a cloud of smoke, accompanied by the smell of brimstone.

 

Cloud looked up in shock. "We had a deal!"

 

Hades frowned. "...Sorry, have we met before? Can't remember. Must not have been too important to me. Probably wasn't paying attention. Now, where was I? Oh, yeah, Rule #5: it's never too late to enter the games."

 

Cloud stared, his jaw hanging open. "But... my lost memories!"

 

Hades snorted. "Stay like that and you'll catch flies, kid. If you can't remember something, it's probably because you don't care about it too much either. What I _do_ care about though, is making sure Irkules here gets his complementary one-way ticket to the Underworld."

 

Sora ran forward, keyblade at the ready, to stand between Hades and Hercules. Hades scoffed. "Oh, so you kiddies wanna go with him?"

 

Kairi shook her head, raising her own keyblade to the ready. "No, we just want you to go home, Hades!"

 

Hades shrugged, "Same thing. Rule #6: There are no rules!"

 

Kairi yelled and ran forward, only to stop when Hades lazily pointed a finger at her and a sudden wave of heat and pain erupted between her eyebrows.

 

"KAIRI!"

 

Closing her eyes, and taking a moment to suck in a breath through her clenched teeth, she summoned the keyblade of heart, feeling the way it hummed in her hand, feeling warm like a hand (or six) grasping her own, comforting like a hug, soft like a kiss. With a yell, she spun around and threw it, covered in ice magic, her heart singing when she heard that smarmy, sleazy voice cry out in pain. She summoned Destiny's Embrace immediately, coated it in the same freezing power and let it fly towards where she heard the voice before, smirking when she heard it strike true.

 

"This. Isn't. Happening!" Hades ground out, and Sora ran forward and slapped his keyblade across the god's brow.

 

The Lord of the Underworld swayed on his feet and fell forward, sending up enough dust from the arena grounds to douse his hair, leaving him unconscious and covered in sand and dirt.

 

* * *

 

 

Riku frowned as he took in the odd colors and pulsating flesh inside Monstro. As he tried to get his bearings, he heard a sound and as he began to turn himself towards it, he flinched. There, in the same bowtie and lederhosen as last time was the wooden puppet Pinocchio, looking around the wet walls and somehow not noticing Riku.

 

As Riku stood still, hoping the other person wouldn't notice he was there, he felt those hopes dashed when he heard a feminine voice beside him call out.

 

"Are you lost, child?"

 

The puppet whirled to look in the direction of the voice, then froze when he saw Riku, his eyes widening before he turned and ran back the way he came, screaming in a panic.

 

Riku looked at the tunnel to the right where the wooden boy went, and decided to keep going forward, ignoring the smirks Maleficent was directing towards his back.

 

He stopped, however, when he heard the boy puppet's shriek.

 

"HELP! SOMEBODY! HEEEEEEELLLLLP!"

 

He turned around and glared at Maleficent, and when she only arched an eyebrow in response he snarled and charged at her, Soul Eater cutting through where she had been as she dispersed into cackling green flames.

 

Riku ignored her howls of laughter as he kept running towards the panicked yells.

 

* * *

 

 "C'mon, are you sure there aren't any girls you like to look at?"

 

"Besides you?" Sora started, before blushing as if he only just realized what he said the moment it came out of his mouth.

 

Kairi snapped her head towards him before immediately looking away as heat and embarrassment crept up her own face.

 

"I hope the King's doing okay," Donald said, cutting through the teen awkwardness.

 

"What d'ya mean by that?" Jiminy prompts, hoping to continue this line of conversation.

 

Donald grinned, and shrugged. "I just wanted to be sure I hadn't forgotten him," he said.

 

 _How'd that go for you?_  asked a white jumpsuit which paused as it swam through the air, its head tilted to the side in a show of curiosity.

 

"I still remember perfectly! Goofy and I are on a quest to find him," Donald said, oblivious to the gawking stares his companions gave to the strange interloper.

 

The creature in question seemed to have had its curiosity satisfied, and continued its way down the hallway, at the end of which it acquired a bucket and mop from behind a pedestal and proceeded to begin cleaning, wrapping its sharp pointed arms around the handle.

 

Kairi tilted her head to the side and stared at the creature with the others, as Donald continued walking obliviously. For whatever reason, her attention returned to the conversation as she brought her hand up to finger the necklace around her neck. "I guess there's no way we'll forget the most important memories," she murmured.

 

"I hope not..." Donald agreed, before he suddenly stopped and turned around and  _stared_.

 

"WHAT THE HECK IS THAT THING!?"

 

* * *

 

In another of the white rooms in the castle, two figures in black were gazing at a crystal ball depicting Sora and his friends, the one standing with vibrant and spiked red hair, and the other, a blonde with her hair slicked back was lounging on a couch with a book titled  _The Complete works of the Marquis De Sade_ open on her lap.

 

...Or, rather, the redhead was gazing. The blonde didn't seem to have looked up from her book. "You're so careful playing with them, Axel," she commented idly. "I would have kicked them around some more."

 

Axel snorted. "Yeah, well, I have healthier hobbies than you, Larxene."

 

"How can you say that?" Larxene grinned at him wickedly. "I mean, you're always disappearing after missions with a couple of kids. You know how that looks, right?"

 

Axel turned to glare at her, then shrugged.  Perhaps out of disappointment at his failure to rise to the bait, Larxene pressed on. "You seem pretty taken by these kids too. But not their keyblades," Larxene mused, pressing her chin onto her fist. "You're interested in their hearts, aren't you?"

 

"He became a Heartless, Larxene," he said flatly. "And we of all people should know what happens to people who do."

 

"People who lose their hearts also lose their minds, their feelings," she recited. "They're consumed by the darkness. It takes total control."

 

"But not Sora," Axel said. "He held on to his feelings, even as a Heartless. Only one other man ever managed that."

 

"And the girl?"

 

"She restored him, completely," Axel said as  shook his head. "That's never happened before. She is, literally, the key. I want to find out what it is that sleeps deep inside her heart."

 

"So it's the strength of their hearts that intrigues you," Larxene realized. "The hearts chosen by the Keyblade."

 

Axel shrugged. "Unlocking the secrets of the Heart is the whole reason we, the Organization, exist. Right?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Out of curiosity, does anyone know of any up-tempo battle remixes of Naminé's theme?
> 
> Like, an orchestrated song that would be Naminé's equivalent to The Other Promise or Vector To The Heavens. As compared to Roxas and Xion's usual musical themes.
> 
> Probably going to need that at some point. Before this fic is done, even.
> 
> I like Hades he's my favorite Disney character to write. It's sad that I won't be writing him for a bit. Maybe I can shove him into Days somewhere. The only problem is that as much as Hades is a fun character to write, Phil very much is not. At all.
> 
> And, like. Even if Hades is fun I can't really do much with him right now.
> 
> I like Maleficent too.
> 
> So next we've got Wonderland and Monstro and Neverland! And a boss! With very cold shoulders! Someone get him a sweater.
> 
> I'm also working on a First Breath concert fic for this AU so. Watch out for that.


	4. Floor 4 /Basement 9.5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Alice is a Keyblade Master, and Naminé and Riku kinkshame themselves.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, hey, I wrote [a one-shot in this AU](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13420686) check it out maybe. It basically has Naminé getting high on Xehanort and having a really bad trip.
> 
> For some reason I think a lot about Alice in KH, and not just because I'm a nerd for classic literature and classic animation (and I am) but. It's _weird_ to me how Alice is a Princess of Heart when one of her defining character traits is curiosity and inquisitiveness, which in the context of KH are most commonly associated with Riku and the Xehanorts and Ansems. That feels like something that would or could be interesting to explore, thematically and metaphysically, especially when, in the same game, Ariel is essentially damned for her own pursuit of the world around her the same way Riku is. But Alice chases around rabbits and cats and mad unbirthday parties and falls down a hole and it's fine I guess?
> 
> Also both the stories by Carroll and the Disney movie (the original animated one, anyway) are somewhat explicit about how Alice imagined Wonderland in her own head, so the fact that we go there is weird too, but also fits with the thing where the worlds were all destroyed and then remade by children, which Alice is.
> 
> also is it possible to give AO3 fics covers because [this is canon](https://kingdomsaurushearts.tumblr.com/post/173825918120/i-had-to-stop-what-i-was-doing-so-i-could-draw)
> 
> credit to kingdomsaurushearts

Riku raced into another squishy chamber, his teeth gritted and shoulders hunched. A large and rotund Heartless appeared in his path and he cut through it without sparing it a second glance. "Where is that thing, I don't have time for games," he growled.

 

"What's wrong, Riku? I thought you liked games!"

 

 Riku's jaw worked.

 

"Or are you too cool to play them, now that you've got the dark-"

 

Riku spun around on his heel and lunged with a snarl, his eyes widening in shock as, instead of brown, a crown of red hair topped the head of the smirking face that Soul Eater's blade cut through.

 

His breath caught in his throat and he choked back tears as he spun around and swung his fist into the nearest wall, his hand sinking harmlessly into the pulsating, rubbery purple flesh.

 

(All the while, he struggled to ignore the faint feeling that someone was laughing at him, and that someone might just be himself.)

 

* * *

 

 Donald padded forward, his brow creased with worry. "So except for our friends, we're forgetting everything bit by bit..."

 

 "Hmm... I wonder what we just forgot," Goofy wondered aloud, prompting Kairi to come to a stop and close her eyes.

 

She went through a mental inventory, trying to go through everything she could remember to see if she had forgotten something.

 

 _But wait,_ she thought to herself,  _if I had forgotten something, how would I know?_

 

"I can't think of anything. Guess I musta forgot it..." Goofy said,  "But whatever it was, it must not have been that important, a-hyuck!"

 

  _What's important?_  Kairi repeated to herself, and tried to filter through her thoughts of who was important to her; there were her boys, of course, Sora's smile and Riku's curiosity and drive and passion ( _and obsession and darkness and danger and-)_

 

 _-Ah, but, then again,_ part of her whispered, _doesn't danger have a certain_ thrill  _to it?_  

 

She just shook her head at her thoughts, repressing the unbidden shiver, and pressed onward.)

 

 She thinks of her mom, all warmth and hugs and encouragement, of being not just told, but shown how to stick up for herself, and not to worry about what anyone who won't stick up for her thinks, of always doing what she can to take care of their community on the islands, how to keep things organized and balancing the budget and coordinating storm responses and festivals and committees.

 

She thinks of the woman in her dreams, just recently remembered; of her strength and muscles and curves, how, as little as she was at the time, she already thought she was the prettiest person she'd ever seen, and now that she was older a heat rushed to her cheeks and her chest and pooled in her belly as she imagined that soft blue hair buried between her—

 

(Wait, blue? Wasn't it _blonde—?_ )

 

"—KAIRI!"

 

Kairi jumped as she felt a tugging  _inside_ her ear and her head jerked to the side to see Jiminy, a disapproving look on his face, with the handle of his umbrella  _hooked through her ear_   _piercing_ what—

 

( _Kinda rude for a conscience,_ noted a voice that sounded suspiciously like Riku, prompting her to repress a snort.)

 

"You alright?" Sora asked, causing her to turn towards him. He was as flushed as she was, and a small part of her flushed even more at that, only to stop in its tracks at the blank, unfocused look in his eyes.

 

She could make as much fun as she wanted about Sora's attention span, but when he looked at her, he always looked at _her,_ not like he was looking past her and, however briefly, seeing someone else.

 

"Are you?" she asked in turn, and was gratified when he shook his head and seemed to return to normal.

 

"We better keep goin'," Goofy pressed, and the others nodded in agreement. Sora raised a card to the door, and they all stepped through.

* * *

 

 "GET ME OUTTA HERE!"

 

"I'm trying!" Riku shouted.

 

"IT'S SCARY IN HERE!"

 

"Sorry," Riku said with a wince, trying to be sympathetic to the plight of the wooden child he was really supposed to be apologizing to and redeeming himself towards as he dodged around a tentacle to deliver another blow.

 

This fight only started a little over a minute ago and it was already getting on the teen boy's nerves.

 

"HEEEEEEEELP!"

 

"I'm trying," called Riku, as he climbed up the creature's back and somersaulted forward to deliver an axe kick to the top head. "I just need you to-!"

 

"GET ME OUTTA HERE!"

 

"I _AM_ **DAMMIT!** " Riku finally snapped and, with a snarl, lunged forward slashing through the prison bar-like jars of the bottom head, coming to a stop behind where the monstrosity had been, as he heard it dissipate and release its heart, feeling the darkness of its form dissipate and disperse and wash over him like a calming, cradling mist.

 

He turned around, ready to make a joke to Sora, but his words froze in his throat.

 

Pinnochio stared up at him, with fear in his eyes, which was more than understandable given the mangled mess of torn fabric and splintered wooden crossbeams separating his upper body from his bottom.

 

Riku felt like he was going to gag as he watched the legs, bent awkwardly and seemingly broken and snapped in a fall, as they twitched once in an attempt to stand. He looked up into a pair of bright blue eyes as the wooden boy grasped at the floor desperately with his arms trying to pull himself away from Riku. "Father! Blue Fairy! Jiminy! Somebody, ANYBODY!"

 

As Riku watched, Maleficent strode forward behind the little puppet boy, who seemingly didn't notice even as she placed her staff against his back as he continued to pull himself away, forcing Pinnochio to sit upright while he came to a stop and continued to stare at Riku.

 

"What were you expecting?" Maleficent asked. "That you could redeem yourself in his eyes?"

 

Her finger was extended towards the puppet, and as Riku watched, frozen in place, a single green flame appeared and hovered at the end of her black fingernail, before expanding and seemingly sucking all the air out of the room.

 

Riku stood there, and as he watched the walls of the whale's belly burn around him, and Maleficent threw her head back in peals of endless laughter, he realized something. He remembered the feasts after a whale washed up on shore, the bonfires, and the smell of burning blubber and wood.

 

That smell was nowhere to be found in the green inferno.

 

"It's not real," Riku said.

 

Maleficent's cackling petered out, and she looked at him with disappointment. "Come again?"

 

"None of this was real!" Riku challenged, the seashell charm gripped tightly in his hand. "I can still make it up to the real Pinnochio some day."

 

Maleficent just tsked at him. "This castle has no power but to show you the contents of your heart; both your memories and the feelings those memories invoke."

 

"What are you saying!" Riku snapped.

 

Maleficent's face softened into one of pity. "That what you saw is nothing more or less than what you believe in your heart. If you truly believed you could ever save that pathetic puppet, your heart would not have compelled the wretched thing to jump in front of your blade."

 

Riku stood stock still for the longest time, his head bowed and staring at the floor. A single drop of fluid rolled down his nose and splashed against the charred ground.

 

Maleficent said nothing, but her lips pursed, and a look of discomfort passed across her face. "What are you-"

 

In an instant, Riku surged forward, taking the witch by surprise as he buried his face in her sternum, knocking her ungracefully to the floor and sending her staff flying across the room. She braced herself for the end of this instance of herself, but it never came, leaving her with a sobbing human teenager pressed to her breast. She raised her hand for an instant, unsure what to do to rectify this unfortunate situation, as the physical strength of her body had never been a strong suit, before finally, she resigned herself to placing the talons of her hand on the back of the boy's head and neck, rubbing up and down in an attempt to soothe.

 

It was strikingly similar to the last time that they had been in this position, not so long ago when this same boy had arrived on her doorstep, and just as before Maleficent resolved to never speak of this moment again, even as she murmured soft hymns in the tongue of the faeries under her breath into the boy's scalp.

 

And, just as before, she cursed Xehanort and Ansem for putting her in this position, forcing her to do all the work while reaping none of the benefit.

 

Well, things would be different this time, she swore. With every moment, and especially as Riku's attachment grew, she felt herself growing stronger by leaps and bounds, and would soon be no longer condemned to the bleak abyss her former "partner" had consigned her to.

 

And after that-!

 

Well.

 

After that would have to come later, she thought, as the body pressing her to the ground slackened and the breathing evened into sleep and her already limited physical form and the room around them disappeared without the focus of memory to sustain them, forcing her to bide her time to return later.

 

* * *

 

 "Gawrsh, looks like some kind of get-together. What's the occasion?"

 

"KAIRI!"

 

Kairi let out a guttural 'whoof' of air as an extremely energetic blonde head crashed into her chest.

 

 "Step away from the defendant!" the White Rabbit cried, as card soldiers approached the girls with weapons raised.

 

"I've done nothing wrong!" said Alice, glaring at the Queen of Hearts.

 

"Uh, Alice, is that really you?" Donald asked hesitantly, prompting the girl to glance at him, and respond with a "Hallo Dolan," making the wizard fume silently and regret he had even asked.

 

"Feigning ignorance, dear?" The Queen waved her fan dismissively, not noticing or not caring about the intruders to her court. "You are charged with aiding the creatures called Heartless who threaten my domain!"

 

"Fiddlesticks! Where's the evidence?" Alice demanded, while pressing more firmly against Kairi's torso, her back to Kairi's front, leaving Kairi feeling like an extremely confused backpack or blanket.

 

"The evidence is..."

 

There was a long pause, during which the cards shuffled awkwardly and the White Rabbit even risked a glance at his pocketwatch while maintaining his peripheral vision on his Queen, who simply stared ahead blinking dumbly while opening and closing her mouth.

 

"The evidence is I forgot!" The Queen of Hearts suddenly spat, causing all in attendance to jump. "That's the evidence! Because you, Alice, are the one who stole my memory!"

 

"We can't rid the kingdom of Heartless until we get Her Majesty's memory back. This is a serious crime!" the White Rabbit added.

 

"I'm the thief!" Kairi shouted, pulling Alice behind her and holding one of her keyblades in each hand.

 

The Queen seemed to be about to retort, but Kairi failed to notice because of two happenings which seemed to occur simultaneously. The first was that, when she tried to cover Alice with her own body, the younger girl wasn't there.

 

Secondly, she noticed a reassuring weight she had grown used to in her hand or her heart had vanished, most likely caused by the fact that Alice was charging forward with- _is that_   _the keyblade of heart?_

 

 _"Yaaaaaaargh!"_ Alice cried as she charged forward, causing the Queen's eyes to widen in panic instead of her usual boisterousness.

 

"Cards! Protect your Queen!" she shouted, and in response Alice swung through a cluster of heart soldiers, causing Kairi to feel the most bizarre sensation, like she was lightheaded only in her chest instead of her skull, or like someone had reached inside her chest, grabbed her behind her sternum, and started swinging her around by that hold.

 

 _Is this what the others have been feeling while I've been using that awful thing?_ Kairi wondered dazedly to herself, standing in place as the others rushed on ahead to drag young Alice out of the fracas and to safety or hiding somewhere.  _How can they stand it,_ she started to wonder, before Alice, picked up over Donald's shoulder (who was in turn picked up over Sora's shoulder, who was being carried over Goofy's shoulder) glanced at her handiwork of a neatly folded suite of playing-card men with a satisfied look before adjusting her grip on the handle, and brushing off dust off the shaft of the blade.

 

Instantly, Kairi was reminded of the times Sora or Riku had rubbed her lower back deeply during cramps, or when she and the boys had all just sat around and massaged each others' feet after a long day at school when the dress uniform shoes had been particularly uncomfortable; an intimate and reassuring physical sensation, only instead of her back muscles or her feet it was centered inside of her chest.

 

She almost didn't notice when Goofy, in a hurry and not looking where he was going, bowled into her, forcing her to carry him as he held onto his own passengers with Alice's skirts blowing into her face and blocking her vision while the girl's feet kicked wildly in front of her and nearly catching her in the eyes nose or mouth.

 

Even with this impediment, however, she kept going, running through where she thought the heart-shaped gate in the hedge was, hoping it would bring her and her companions back to (relative) safety in the forest.

 

* * *

 

 "Riku, I presume?"

 

Riku flushed and tried to wipe any remaining tears from his eyes, hoping against hope that they weren't too red around the rim. "Are you with Ansem?" He snarled.

 

"You are half correct," the blonde man murmured.  "Let us say that it's not the Ansem you know. He is Ansem and He is not — which is to say that He is nobody at all!"

 

Riku rolled his eyes. "Nobody, huh? Sorry, riddles aren't my thing. I'm getting enough of that from Maleficent. Try again."

 

The man scowled at this, his eyebrow suddenly spasming and twitching. "Maleficent isn't here! She's dead, and gone, claimed by the darkness; and never to be seen again!"

 

Riku raised his eyebrow at the outburst. "You seem pretty upset over Maleficent," he noted. "What, are you her -ex or something?"

 

A familiar voice sneered and made a noise of disgust where only Riku could hear it.

 

The man smirked, calmed from his earlier frenetic energy. "The man I stand with belongs to neither the light nor the dark, but walks the twilight between. As do I. And for that matter —" he seemed to perk up as Riku suddenly stiffened at that before adding; "Ha ha, that's right. We have much in common."

 

 "Maybe we do..." Riku admitted softly. "But so what! Is that an invitation to join your club? Yeah, there's darkness inside me, just like you said. But darkness is my enemy! And so are you for reeking of that awful smell!"

 

The strange man in the black cloak grinned widely, as snowflakes coalesced in front of him in the form of a shield. "Oh ho, so it's a fight you want. Very well — a fight you shall get!"

 

* * *

 

_"We can ask Axel when he and Naminé get back! Then all four of us can have ice cream together!"_

_"Okay!" Xion replied with a smile and Naminé froze in the dream because of how_ beautiful  _that smile was._

_The two teens sat on the clock tower a little longer and Naminé watched them, longing to be there in that perfect moment with her twin Nobody and that beautiful doll's beautiful new face._

 

 _The moment didn't last, as moments never do, and the pair of Nobody and his Replica returned to the castle, met by the unapproving gaze of Saïx. Naminé frowned at the sneering curl to his lip and how strange it was, as something niggled at the frayed edges of her perception. He had never been_ nice,  _of course not, but always seemed to respect effort and successful mission completion._

 

 _So how could he look at Naminé's_ **friends** _like a foul creature and something it had left on the floor, right after a long day collecting hearts?_

 

_How could he look at that beautiful face and be anything other than enraptured?_

 

_(He cant see her face just like you couldn't at first, A traitorous thought whispered.)_

 

 _(No, another, even_ more _traitorous thought replied, you thought she was beautiful when she didn't even **have** a face.)_

 

_Snapping back to the dream, she realized that somehow the pair had made their way to the showers and were casually undressing around each other._

 

 _Sora and Kairi's memories were filled with sleepovers and hot springs and baths that, at first, had been deemed cute by everyone's parents but slowly were met with slightly more suspicion and unease as the trio filled out and grew into the changes of puberty (some changes Naminé was grateful she might never have to face as she thought back to a week ago, when every cramp through Kairi's midsection_ _echoed and stung where Naminé's own womb would be) but despite the worries the three friends treated each other almost the same as they always had._

 

_(This was not, as Naminé was increasingly aware of as she sought to rewrite their memories and feelings, because the stereotypical feelings between blooming teenagers were absent. Riku in particular had alternated between either being unable to talk to Kairi at all unless he forgot she was a girl, and eyeing her with that same hungry possessiveness he had started to have towards everything else he thought would get him the "outside world" he craved.)_

 

_(The worst part, of course, was that Kairi had noticed. And for all that she loved Riku and had thought about him constantly, she was increasingly aware of the way he thought of her as a Thing and not a person, or a friend, much less an Equal.)_

__

_(Kairi blamed herself for this, Naminé knew, for not being the one to reach out, to "fix" Riku's darkness, as in the stories and fairy tales where the light of a Beauty could fix a Beast.)_

 

_(Marluxia always waxed on about fairy tales, and at times seemed to have stepped out of one himself, but Larxene, through all her cruelties, had taught Naminé very well what she thought about the way "princesses" were "supposed to be" in stories.)_

 

_(The islands weren't like Marluxia's Age of Fairy Tales, or the world that had produced the broken girl that had become Larxene out of spite. There was no one Kairi could have turned to for help or advice. Boys and girls were trusted to play together by themselves, and no other boys ever looked at girls in the dark, possessive, aggressive way Riku had looked at Kairi.)_

 

 _(Or, some thread in Kairi's-or-Naminé's subconscious pointed out, the way Ansem had once looked at Kairi, in Hollow Bastion,_  Before.)

 

_(Or, another thread hinted, the way Ansem must have looked at Riku.)_

 

_Naminé winced, feeling distantly but trying to ignore as she stayed in the sweetness of sleep the way the facial movement stretched her skin across the edges of her desk, the way her crayons and pencils dug their edges into her cheek._

 

_(How am I any different, aren't I just using her as well)_

 

_(You aren't her friend)_

 

_(She dug into the memories of island life again, turning this time through the vast distances between worlds, to the parents, what raising these heroic children of light was like, envying despite herself how it would feel to be a normal girl with someone, anyone, that cared for her or watched over her.)_

 

_(She was struck, as always, by how idyllic Island life was. How children could walk home safely and unconcerned from school, how teenagers could go off to an island by themselves without any adult supervision.)_

 

 _(How a girl and her two boys thought they could leave their parents behind and travel to_ a different  **world** entirely _, by raft of all things, without anyone stopping them because none of their friends and family knew)_

 

_She was distracted as she became aware again of the happenings in the dream, as Roxas lathered soap in the small of Xion's back, in a spot the other girl couldn't reach on her own._

 

 _(She could have before, Naminé thought, as she remembered and superimposed over the girl's current form the way she had been before, with blank features, a shapeless chest, torso, hips and backside,_ _and distinctly artificial-looking articulated joints that for all that artificiality were absurdly flexible.)_

 

 _She frowned and bit her lip at the realization that she was heating up more at the thought of Xion as she had been before than as she was now, at the way Xion_ wanted  _to be seen, and saw herself, with no memory and even less regard for whatever she had been like before._

 

_The more immediately horrifying realization, however, was that somehow Naminé's own reactions were echoing in the connection to her twin, making Roxas's own body flush slightly, and the sluggish black (dark) fluid that filled a Nobody instead of blood began to slowly trickle both upward and downward to his face and his-_

 

Naminé jerked herself upward into wakefulness, severing the connection as violently as she could, and turned her attention sharply away from it, as a result not even noticing the way her usage of power crashed against Roxas's already fragile mind, memories and body, causing him to collapse helplessly against Xion's back in a deep unconsciousness.

 

 _Why am I like this,_  Naminé asked herself.

 

"Like what," asked a low baritone in her ear, informing her she had spoken aloud, and barely giving her enough warning to suck in a breath and lean back in her chair as the dull side of a blade was pressed flat against her stomach and pulled her against the torso of another, forcing her to stand as the blade's inward-facing curved edge pulled upward so it was only an inch away from nicking her chest.

 

"...Weak," the girl replied, the word fading into the air the moment she said it.

 

The voice in her ear rumbled and purred through the chest at her back, before finally it dripped like honey when it said "You're not weak, Naminé. You're kind."

 

* * *

 

Kairi tripped on a root, and somehow, despite his being on or near the top of the stack of bodies, she landed on top of Donald, with everyone else piled on top of her. As she pushed herself up, she found herself accidentally putting all her weight on him, pressed against his stomach.

 

"Um, Donald? Are you alri-"

 

"I'm fine!" Donald snapped, his face red and twisted in an expression of. Embarrassment? Discomfort? Disappointment? Worry? "Just leave me alone Della!"

 

Kairi frowned, as the color drained from Donald's face, before suddenly he shot up, knocking everyone off of him before he began stamping off.

 

"Don't you worry about him," Goofy explained comfortingly as he glanced worriedly after Donald. "He just gets broody sometimes."

 

Kairi frowned, and was about to respond, before Goofy hurriedly corrected himself by saying "Moody, I meant."

 

"...Who's Della?"

 

Goofy's look turned pained, and seemed about to respond before suddenly Alice shot up and yelled "Why did you have to stop me!"

 

Sora frowned and whispered loudly to Kairi, "So, just to check, you're not the thief, right?"

 

Alice turned red, and she smacked him in the shin with her keyblade, and then when he pulled that foot to his chest she stomped her heel on his other one, causing him to yelp and fall to the ground.

 

_"~Twas brillig and the slithy toves did gyre and gimbel in the wabe~"_

 

Everyone looked around to find the source of the bizarre and offkey singing-

 

"Offkey? How rude," murmured a large row of smiling teeth sitting atop Sora's chest.

 

 "Oh, look! It's the Cheshire Cat," said Alice.

 

 The rest of the mysterious cat slowly appeared, stripes first, as it continuously pressed its snout into Sora's chest. "That's strange," it muttered to itself. "I could have sworn there used to be more of you in there."

 

Kairi stepped forward and grabbed the strange animal by the back of the neck, and from the look on its face she's not sure whether she or the Cheshire Cat was more surprised by the fact that it stayed grabbed instead of disappearing. "...Oh. There you are," the cat said lamely, before perking up and looking between Kairi and Alice, who stepped forward to stand beside Kairi's elbow. "Oh, I see, so now it's you and Alice that have doubled. That must be why..."

 

"Doubled?" asked Alice.

 

"Why what?" Kairi asked.

 

The cat grinned sheepishly, and seemed to try scratch itself with a hind paw, but suddenly became alarmed when the limb only kicked backwards and then dangled haplessly. The cat's expressions moved from horror to a hateful glare at the two girls before smoothing into passivity. "First things first, perhaps," it said hopefully.

 

Kairi only raised the cat higher in the air so it was closer to eye level, in the hopes of giving it a better look at her unimpressed expression.

 

The cat seemed to wince, before smiling widely again. "The queen's a stickler for justice! She won't forget you till she remembers! She won't stop hounding you till you get her memory back! Did she forget because she remembers? Does she remember that she forgot? Doesn't matter, I suppose."

 

Sora finally sat up, with a frown on his face. "I think we oughta just stay away from her."

 

"That's all well and good for us, Sora," said Jiminy reproachfully. "But what about Alice? If the queen catches her again, it's off with — well, you know."

 

"Not if I get to her first!" Alice said, waving her key around, making Kairi feel like she was being pulled around on strings, dropping the cat in the process of her disorientation. "Why, she's queen of nothing but a pack of cards anyway."

 

"She may be queen of nothing," the cat allowed from its position reclining in the air where Kairi had dropped it. "But you may well be Queen of everything."

 

"If you can't remember something, it's like it never happened. Likewise, if something never happened, you can't remember it. Try too hard to remember, and your memory might lie to you," the cat added, a strange twinkle in its eyes.

 

* * *

 

 

Riku stepped past the body kneeling on the floor, briefly considering whether to kick it in the side or whether that would just be too pathetic.

 

"Ha... This battle has made it clear."

 

 _'Battle'? I only hit him once,_ Riku thought, both irked and impressed, oddly, that the pathetic, slow, weak creature was still breathing. "Sorry, but I've literally fought off stiff breezes that were more trouble than you."  _And my family's rich,_ he added internally.  _Sora's the one that's been on a fishing boat during a hurricane._

 

The body rose from the floor in a manner that, Riku had to admit, was vaguely unsettling, like the human-looking man was actually some sort of snake or other boneless creature. "The darkness coursing through you is a tremendous power. All you needed was the right provocation."

 

Riku sighed, and put his hand to his brow, to block his view from the second-hand embarrassment, and said "Oh, no, a trick all along, what a bummer," tonelessly and without any inflection.

 

He turned on his heel, showing the strange and harmless interloper his back, almost embarrassed to continue  and pressed up the stairs to show the door a card.

 

As he stepped through, he was prepared to go from the stark halls of the castle to some other world.

 

He _wasn't_ prepared to find himself staring down a shadowy version of himself, one which looked away from him to where Sora stood over Kairi's unconscious form on the bed of the captain's cabin, trying futiley to shake her awake.

 

The shadow grabbed Sora, so Riku jumped forward and passed _through_ his own shadowy doppelgänger only to find himself in its place, leaning over Sora, his mouth on the other boy's, biting and possessive, pushing Sora down onto the bed next to Kairi, leaning over the two of them and he grabbed Sora's hand and placed it on Kairi's chest and _squeezed_. He pulled away and looked into Sora's face to see how he liked the feel of her, only to see Kairi's indigo eyes where Sora's should be, sharp, angry, hurt and accusing.

 

Riku came back to himself on the other side of the room, and reached to feel his heart racing as his stomach churned.

 

He remembered that dream. Right after Monstro, as he lay down to sleep after claiming Hook's ship as his own, he imagined how he could convince Sora to see things _his_ way.

 

 _("Just think about it Sora,"_   _Riku's dream had insisted._   _"When Kairi wakes up, she'll be so grateful to us that she'll let us do whatever we want, whenever we want!")_

 

(He already felt uncomfortable at the dreams at the time, and found himself unable to look at Kairi's unconscious body without some degree of shame, but the knowledge that Kairi's heart, her _being_ had been with Sora's all along...)

 

He was dazed out of his thoughts by a noise of something along the floor, and looked up to see a shadowy version of Kairi now, sitting in the captain's chair while Sora was held down by the shadowy Riku. The real Riku approached more cautiously this time, but the moment his hand landed on his shadowy counterpart it was like he was sucked _into_ it, seeing through its eyes as it held Sora to the ground, dragging him over to kneel at Kairi's feet as the tightness in his waders pressed into Sora's back-

 

He snapped himself out of the vision more forcefully this time, relieved to find that the shadowy figures were gone.

 

He remembered that dream too, when he had gotten back to Hollow Bastion, and tried to picture how different things could have went. He'd decided then that instead of him and Sora rescuing Kairi, he would rescue her himself, and together they'd knock some sense into Sora's thick head.

 

 _("Why don't you show her how sorry you really are,"_ _in the dream Riku had_ purred _into Sora's ear, as Kairi's foot on his head pressed him into the deck, her golden eyes shining as she stood from the chair, ready to unhook the belt around her hips as Riku reached for the belt around Sora's and-)_

 

 Riku pinched himself as hard as he could, urging himself to _focus dammit_ and not let his old fantasies distract him. 

 

This was easier said than done, however, when he saw the shadowy Sora, identical to the one he'd made from Sora's shadow on this ship, staring at him like it was ready to devotedly follow his any and every command as it had before.

 

( _Riku groaned, his fingers tightening in inky black hair-)_

 

The shadow disappeared and Riku threw up on the floor of the cabin.

 

* * *

 

 

The wizard paced back and forth in front of the entrance to the blank white hall and his feathers standing on end as his grip tightened around the handle of his staff like it might escape from him.

 

_Who is Della?_

 

_unca Donald!_

_unca Donald!_

_unca Donald!_

_What was our m-- like?_

 

_Ach eye, haven't seen your s----- have ya lad?_

 

_who is della_

 

"I can't remember," Donald admitted brokenly to himself, and just saying the words aloud made him feel like he was being torn in two.

 

* * *

 

 "Is this what stole the Queen's memory?" Goofy asked, as they all faced the Trickmaster, the Queen of Hearts mumbling and confused at their backs, the cards helpless without her orders.

 

"Alice, why don't you stay-" Kairi trailed off, at the realization that not only was Alice not safely out of harm's way, she was already charging towards the large Heartless.

 

Sora yelped and tried to catch the girl when she jumped in the air to attack one of the stacked heads, and failed to notice when one of the drumsticks slammed into him.

 

 Kairi glanced at him with a wince, and turned back towards the fight when she felt a bizarre and unnatural stretching feeling, the source of which appeared to be Alice pulling the keyblade between her hands and _lengthening it like a **bow**???_

 

 Kairi tried to climb onto the table in the centre of the room but was left gasping for breath every time the key-bow bent under Alice's grip and released an arrow of magic at the creature.

 

Kairi stared as the Trickmaster stepped towards her, getting closer, only for Sora to land on its head, cutting through and releasing the heart. His momentum carried him through, causing him to land on top of her where she perched on top of the room's chair.

 

The chair disappeared beneath her, leaving her to land on the floor, as the Queen stepped forward and pushed her cards out of the way. "You there! All of you! What is the meaning of this? Where did that creature come from?"

 

Kairi and Sora began to answer, but as they moved their limbs to stand Sora's elbow jabbed sharply right into her boob, while Kairi's knee slammed into Sora's groin.

 

"So, you refuse to answer? You're hiding something!" Whirling towards her soldiers, the Queen started shouting. "They're plotting against me! Seize them immediately!"

 

"Wait, your majesty!" said Alice with a curtsy. "It was you who commanded us to destroy that creature. Your Majesty, in her prudence, didn't completely trust us at first. And so, at Your Majesty's command, we fought them to prove ourselves."

 

The Queen gaped, her mouth opening and closing like a fish. "I...told you...to do that?"

 

"But Your Majesty, don't you remember?"

 

"Don't be ridiculous!" the Queen huffed. "I never forget anything! Of course I gave the command. You did splendidly."

 

With that, she and her entourage turned to leave, leaving the two teens sprawled on the floor and entangled in each other to continue trying to get separated and upright without further injuring or compromising themselves or each other, while Alice giggled in mischief and Goofy stood in the background trying to understand what just happened and when the Queen gave them orders while his pants continued to burn from the flaming attacks in the fight.

 

 

# ALICE

 

The booming voice seemed to shake the world around them, causing all to pause what they were doing.

 

 

# Please wake up Alice

 

The walls of the room seemed to start to fade and dissolve, leaving them to look at a blur of the hedges of the Queen's garden, the strange trees of the tulgey wood, and, through it all, a meadow, where young Alice lay sleeping with her sister standing over her and a kitten pawing lightly at her dress.

 

 

# WAKE UP!

 

The sleeping Alice woke up, and the Alice besides the group of friends vanished, and like a bubble had popped the world disappeared, leaving them  all in a pile on the floor of one of Castle Oblivion's halls.

 

Donald just stared ahead from his position at the bottom of the pile, resigned to his role as feathery doormat.

 

"Uh... did the Queen command us to do that too?" Goofy wondered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the scene in Neverland with Riku was somewhat inspired by [And All I Got](https://archiveofourown.org/works/336369) by Rikudera. I was thinking of ways I could make Riku suffer in Neverland, and that fit the bill.
> 
> Anyway, listening to Project Destati's Darkness, as you do, and I sorta wish I could, like request them for a fansong called "Organization XV" for this AU/an AU like it to incorporate Naminé's theme in it.
> 
> I dunno if they do requests, especially for fanfic AUs, but. It's a thought I had, whatever.
> 
>  
> 
> So, I felt like sharing the LGBTQ headcanon that have shaped how I've written the characters so far? None of them are. Explicit in the text, and I dunno when they. Will be. But, hey, *jazz hands*
> 
> Donald Duck: Trans man! (Trans Mallard??) I'll be honest, this is probably more out of Spite than anything, because some of the Mickey Mouse shorts by Disney have had really dumb and bad jokes about Donald laying eggs and! Ducks that have dicks don't really do that!
> 
> Not that I think trans headcanon actually need "evidence" (or can be "disproved" by "evidence",) but there is officially more evidence in the Disney canon of Donald being trans than cis!
> 
> Your move Disney, Donald Duck is officially trans, I don't make the rules.
> 
> Xion: Trans girl!
> 
> Axel/Lea: Trans man!
> 
> Kairi: Pansexual and demiromantic!
> 
> Sora: Demisexual and Quoiromantic!
> 
> Riku: bi!
> 
> thank u all for coming to my ted talk, see you next time :)
> 
> Next up is Halloween Town, R/R Neverland, R/R Repliku 1, Larxene 1 and R/R Traverse Town.


End file.
